Magazine publishes Denny High School pupils' essays on Scotland's slave trade links

Denny High School students Bradley Benton (14), Jessica Elliot (16) and Iona Kelly (17) have each had an online article published by the History Scotland magazine on the country’s links to the Atlantic slave trade.

The trio submitted their entries online after researching an issue which has become highly topical on these shores as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Both Bradley and Jessica produced essays arguing Scotland’s involvement in the Atlantic slave trade should be taught as a mandatory subject in all schools.

Iona turned in an article which asked if street names linked to the slave trade should be replaced, pointing out that removing names of slave traders from our buildings contradicts the push to educate future generations.

Stuart McCracken, Denny High history teacher, said: “Given the unprecedented times that we are currently in, we are trying to celebrate the efforts of the pupils who were published online as much as we can.

“I saw a tweet from one of the magazine’s editors which said they were looking for people to submit articles and asked if it would be possible for us to do a pupil-led one. We put it out to all 1400 pupils from S1 to S6 and whittled it down to five or six then three were published.

“Hopefully we can make it a semi-regular thing as it has huge benefits. The pupils have obviously engaged with topics in the news today and raised awareness about Scotland’s links to the slave trade and it’s not something every school teaches.”

The essays can be read here.

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