Black History Walking Tours Edinburgh

08/01/2025

The tour for Valentine's weekend is ALL about the heartbreak of forbidden first love, secret affairs, spy rings and subterfuge, internationally famous affairs, and some beautiful marriages forged against the odds.

Did you know about the white Scottish 14 year old who pan Africanist Marcus Garvey fell in love with as school friends in Jamaica? When her parents found out how close they were getting, they promptly whisked her home to Edinburgh, leaving him heartbroken. When he came here in 1914, what did the ladies think of him then?

What was Jamaican beauty queen Cindy Breakspeare doing in Edinburgh in 1977, at the time she was in a relationship with the very married Bob Marley?

Find out more about Andrew Mitchell Thomson, the Church of Scotland minister who shocked the city by calling for revolution in the Caribbean. At home he was an affectionate and loving husband and father, who spent hours playing with his children.

Who was the 'girl next door' who formerly enslaved John Edmonstone from Guyana fell for on Lothian Street. Did the St Cuthbert's church congregation object when they read the banns on Sunday?

And who was the intriguing courtesan and spy from Edinburgh, daughter of the Attorney General of Grenada, who freed all the enslaved on the plantation he inherited from his father? Before Donna in Mamma Mia, there was the scandalous, beautiful and clever Grace Elliot, who did what she needed to do to survive.

When she gave birth to her daughter in 1782, paternity was claimed by the Prince of Wales, Charles Wyndham, George Selwyn, AND the Earl of Cholmondeley. These days, we know just how to pronounce 'Cholmondeley' don't we?

Leslie 'Hutch' Hutchinson, was a jazz cabaret singer from Grenada who performed at the Festival Theatre. Hutch seduced men and women and caused scandal wherever he went...from Cole Porter's heady crush to the s*x scandal that rocked the Royal Family.

Whatever your Valentine's brings...old love, new love, no love or just plain old curiosity about other people's love dramas and scandals...this tour is for you. Saturday the 15th of February.

05/01/2025

https://blackhistoryscotland.com/blog/f/the-hogmanay-tour---african-american-links-to-edinburgh Check out my latest blog post about our Hogmanay tour - we braved the weather and won!

With all the worries about Edinburgh's cancelled Hogmanay celebrations, I watched the weather like a hawk and took a well calculated risk to go ahead with our tour on the 31st December. Some African American folks had co...

02/01/2025

Just added some special family friendly tours for this coming half term and Easter break. 90 minutes long, positive and inspiring stories with quizzes, drama skits, art, costumes, props and fun. We did this last year and the kids had a wonderful time - acting out a skit in the Assembly Rooms, running a race to find a statue, wee prizes along the way. Good value for big families and discounts for single parent families. Come and try - it's great fun. Suitable for ages 7 and up.

28/12/2024

In the lead up to Edinburgh's Hogmanay check out a special tour of African American connections to Edinburgh from the 1840s to the 20th century. African Americans have celebrated Watch Night on the 31st since 1862 in anticipation of Emancipation.

We'll be chatting about Frederick Douglass' inspiring times in Edinburgh in the 1840s and 1860s and his first wife Anna Murray's support that led to his daring escape disguised as a sailor in 1838.

Formerly enslaved minister J.W.C. Pennington, like Douglass, gave speeches on George St (who had happily married them and many other newly emancipated couples)

Do you know about the man who unveiled his panorama at the Waterloo Rooms at the foot of Calton Hill and wowed audiences with his unusual story of escape?

Or the female abolitionist supported by the Edinburgh Ladies Emancipation Society and spoke about the effect of enslavement on women to packed out audiences? Sarah Parker Remond became a doctor, signed a petition to the British government for women's suffrage and went to live in Italy.

We'll pass by the building where Frederick Douglass bought his violin, the graveyard with Britain's only memorial to President Abraham Lincoln and talk about the performance of the Fisk Jubilee singers in front of a working class Edinburgh audience of 7K people on their fund raising tour of Britain in 1873.

You'll see the places in the Old and New Town where journalist Ida B. Wells spoke at in 1893, and learn why she was put under surveillance by the U.S. government during WW1.

And speaking of WW1, how much do you know about the African American female postgraduate of Edinburgh University who was sent to France as a war medic and received a medal for her outstanding work?

We'll play some tunes by Paul Robeson, the amazing law graduate, actor, singer, activist, athlete and world traveller to finish. People here haven't forgotten his impact when he sang with the miners around Edinburgh and the musical concert he put on to fundraise for them at Usher Hall.

You won't want to miss this tour 11-1 on 31st December. If you do, catch my upcoming blogpost on the website in the New Year.

12/12/2024

You might be interested in some of the real stories of mixed families in Britain - check out this great article based on painstaking research and interviews!

Discover the real mixed-race families behind Steve McQueen’s film Blitz, inspired by an image of a Black evacuee held at the Imperial War Museum.

10/12/2024

Loved taking these brilliant postgrads round - nerding out together on various aspects of Scottish colonial history and sharing ideas about what needs to change in the museum sector to reflect a more truthful and multilayered reality. Great things heading our way soon!

10/12/2024

Our tour focusing on Barbados for Independence Day/St Andrew's Day on Nov 30th was great and we covered a lot of ground! From the Covenanters sent from Leith to Bridgetown, abolitionist writer Olaudah Equiano first arriving in Bridgetown wondering if his traffickers were spirits or cannibals... the specially commissioned Barbados tartan created in Scotland and Dr Leacock from Barbados, who experimented while at Edinburgh Uni in the early 19th century with blood transfusions between animal species. Don't take my word for it...hear it from a true Bajan! Which countries' links to Edinburgh do you want to know more about?





Guyana, Grenada and Trinidad all coming up in 2025..with a special African American focus on the tour on 31st December at 11am.

21/11/2024

Mark St Andrew's Day and Barbados Independence Day all in one on a special Barbados themed tour of Edinburgh on Sat 30th November 11-1.

Learn about the Covenanters' journey from the prisons on the Royal Mile, why Barbadians eat blood pudding, and the doctors from Barbados who trained in Edinburgh.

Do you know about the Bussa Rebellion of 1816, and the roles of Bussa, Jackey, King Wiltshire, Nanny Grigg and Joseph Pitt Washington Franklin? The revolutionary movement in Britain who may have had political influence or been working in solidarity? The role of Sir James Leith from Leith Hall in Aberdeen?

Folks in Barbados have surnames like Douglas, Robinson, Reid, Russell, Lewis, McLean, McFarlane, McKenzie, McDonald, Grant, Gordon, Graham, Stewart, Simpson, Scott, Ferguson, Frazer, Farquharson, McClusky and Sinclair.

Did you know these places are part of the Barbadian landscape?

Arthur's Seat, Callendar, Carrington, Inch Marlowe, Montrose. The Scotland District?

Only just found out myself from my mum that we have an ancestor who was a Scot who emigrated to Barbados!

Check the website to book!

14/11/2024

https://www.mixcloud.com/ehfm/the-ehfm-culture-show-131124/ Had fun doing this interview with EHFM radio station (from about half way through) - talking about the upcoming Black Walking Tours with Poetry and the panel for Disrupting the Narrative; all part of Push the Boat Out Festival next weekend. Amazing events of all things poetic! And here's playwright, poet and former Edinburgh Makar Hannah Lavery and me playing the fool on one of the photoshoots for the festival..we can't help ourselves when we get in proximity to each other!

Listen to The EHFM Culture Show - 13.11.24 by EHFM for free. Follow EHFM to never miss another show.

13/11/2024

Enjoyed taking BBC Radio Scotland on a mini Black History Walking Tour of Edinburgh for Remembrance Sunday - the first ten minutes of the show I'm talking about just a few of the African and Caribbean military connections to Edinburgh - African and Caribbean soldiers and others contributing to Britain's war effort from the World Wars and before!

On Remembrance Sunday, is the annual act of remembering still important?

31/10/2024

To commemorate Antigua's Independence Day 1st Nov and Dominica's Independence Day 3rd Nov I'm putting on a special tour on Sat 2nd Nov that focuses on stories that connect Edinburgh with the two Caribbean islands. Stories of Celestine Edwards, Britain's first Black editor born in Dominica and grew up in Antigua before arriving in Edinburgh; part of a multi ethnic group fighting for human rights within the British Empire, Clara Marguerite Christian who left Dominica for a convent school in Edinburgh and who became Edinburgh's first Black female undergrad. The story of the Doig family, including the Burgess of Edinburgh who was born in Antigua, and the women and children enslaved by his family. How Henrietta Liston, born in Antigua and her Scottish ambassador husband Robert developed the special relationship between Britain and the USA post American Revolution by secretly exploiting the new free republic of what was to become Haiti...and lots more!

30/10/2024

Thrilled to have been picked as one of the 100 on a stellar list! Just did my interview for the podcast to go along with the portrait - do check out the exhibition before it ends on 4th January.

100 Black Women Who Have Made A Mark is an exhibition born out of a deep desire for greater representation of Black women. Curated by Pawlet Brookes MBE, CEO and Artistic Director of Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage, the exhibition features 100 portraits of Black British women by fi...

29/10/2024

Check the new website www.blackhistoryscotland.com for a series of new tours coming up over the next couple of months. We have one focused on links with the islands of Antigua and Dominica on 2nd Nov to celebrate their upcoming Independence Days, one on military links to the Caribbean on 9th Nov, one on 1st December to celebrate emancipation in the Cape Colony and Scotland's links with South Africa, and even a Hogmanay morning special on 31 December that will focus on Watch Night and African American links to the city! Always something new to know :)
Also, if you've been before, please pop a review on Google Business for me please - the link is here https://g.page/r/CYTl_TKb7TGPEAE/review

25/10/2024

https://blackhistoryscotland.com Two Black History Walking Tours of Edinburgh on this weekend 11-1 Sat and Sun! Tomorrow there'll be stories of Black Victorians and Sunday more of a 20th century focus. There'll be a special military focused tour on 9 Nov WW1, WW2 but also Caribbean soldiers in Edinburgh in the 18th and 19th centuries. Lots of new stuff to share! Check the link to book

Discover the rich history of Edinburgh with our informative Black history walking tours. Book now to learn about Edinburgh's history of African, Caribbean and African American connections.

09/08/2024

Been off the streets and social media for a little while - but have a tour tonight 6pm to 8pm - will be choosing as many quiet side streets as possible and avoiding the Fringe frenzy

Hear the little-known stories of Edinburgh's many visitors and residents of African, African American and Caribbean heritage!

18/07/2024

Excited to say that Black History Walking Tours Edinburgh has a new home at www.blackhistoryscotland.com where you can book directly for the tours via PayPal or card. Dates are up for August, and September and October ones about to be added. Private group tours (date and time by prior arrangement) can be paid for online too. Photos, videos, talks, links to all my work on Scotland's Black History are all loading to create a one-stop-shop. Check it out!

06/07/2024

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/black-history-walking-tour-of-edinburgh-tickets-678467814497 All the money from tomorrow's tour will be going to aid relief efforts in the Caribbean after hurricane Beryl's devastation. Been so sad all week seeing old neighbours and friends on video struggling for surivival having lost EVERYTHING including their homes

Hear the little-known stories of Edinburgh's many visitors and residents of African, African American and Caribbean heritage!