Empire, Slavery and Scotland's Museums steering group recommendations: Scottish Government Response

Project inception and timeline

This project would not be possible without the many decades of activism against racism both in Scotland and across the world. In this section we are summarising the actions within the Scottish Government which more directly led to this sector specific project.

The Race Equality Framework for Scotland 2016 to 2030, published in 2016 and produced in development with the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights, sets out the Scottish Government's approach to promoting and progressing anti-racism work which tackles racism and inequality. A key strand of this framework relates to the participation and representation of people who experience racism across political, community and public life.

On 10 June 2020 a motion was raised in the Scottish Parliament to show solidarity with anti-racism, which was passed with an amendment that Scotland should 'establish a slavery museum to address our historic links to the slave trade.'

In September 2020 the Scottish Government published our Programme for Government in which we agreed:

'Partnering with Museums Galleries Scotland, in collaboration with race equality and museums sector stakeholders, we will sponsor an independent expert group to make recommendations on how Scotland's existing and future museum collections we can better recognise and represent a more accurate portrayal of Scotland's colonial and slavery history and what further steps should be taken to ensure people in Scotland are aware of the role Scotland played and how that manifests itself in our society today. This will include how to reflect, interpret and celebrate the wide ranging and positive contributions that ethnic minority communities have made and continue to make to Scotland.'

As a result, the Scottish Government successfully partnered with Museums Galleries Scotland and anti-racism, decolonisation and museum sector stakeholders to deliver the Empire, Slavery and Scotland's Museums project. This project aimed to identify the ways we can reinterpret aspects of our hidden or contested heritage, to present a more accurate, complete picture of the past.

In 2021 the Coalition for Race Equality and Rights (CRER) conducted a review of Scottish Government race equity and found inequalities persisted in cultural participation for people who experience racism. While this project has provided a deliberate shift in the way our cultural places welcome and represent the breadth of the diverse communities who call Scotland home, it is important to understand that this is only part of the wider solution.

In June 2022, the ESSM project concluded and as a result its six recommendations were published on the Museums Galleries Scotland website.