The First Minister has said Scotland must have a greater understanding of the nation’s links to the transatlantic slave trade after visiting a museum dedicated to black history.
John Swinney was invited to the Museum of African American History in Boston while he was in the Massachusetts city for Scotland’s match against Haiti.
The museum aims to shine a light on the history of slavery in New England, and its abolition, as well as contemporary racial inequality.
The museum, a not-for-profit institution, aims to educate about the abolitionist movement, and Mr Swinney said museum officials spoke to him about Scotland’s ties to the slave trade.
Following the visit, Mr Swinney said he visited the museum to “explore some of the difficult connections with both Scotland and Boston, and one of those was demonstrated by the Museum of African American history which, of course, draws together some of the lessons learned about slavery which had deep connections to many aspects of Scottish society in the past”.
Mr Swinney was asked about the residual traces of the transatlantic slave trade still found in Scotland, with some streets in Glasgow named after former slave owners and tobacco lords.
He said: “Part of what we’ve got to understand, to a greater extent than I think we do, is the connection that we had in our past with slavery, and that’s part of the purpose of my visit here, to establish those connections, to encourage that dialogue and discussion.”