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As you may know Frank Shaw has been doing a regular column on Electric Scotland entitled "Robert Burns Lives".
This week he has sent in a new article on Burns and Slavery. Here is how he sets up the article...
Robert Burns has always been a good topic to write about as thousands of people can attest to having done so in the form of books or articles, not to mention the tons of annual speeches during Burns Night Suppers each January. Lately there has been much interest in Burns and slavery. A presentation entitled “Robert Burns and Slavery: The Dumfries and Galloway Context” was presented in the spring of 2009 at the University of South Carolina by Lizanne Henderson of the University of Glasgow Dumfries Campus. In the fascinating book, Fickle Man, edited by Johnny Rodger and Gerry Carruthers (see review on Robert Burns Lives! at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...ns_lives51.htm), there is an excellent chapter on Burns and slavery by Carruthers. Also on Robert Burns Lives! (http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...ns_lives55.htm) is an additional piece by Carruthers on the subject. Others I am aware of having written on the topic include noted Burns professors Corey Andrews and Carol McGuirk.
Early in his young life Burns had contemplated fleeing Scotland for the islands and working for a slave-operated plantation. Can’t imagine him being part of an operation like that but a desperate man will sometimes contemplate doing things he never would have under normal circumstances. Even though Burns booked passage for his trip on several boats, I do not believe his heart was in it and the ships left without him. Publishing Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect had a lot to do with his decision to remain in Scotland because, for the first time, he had money in his pocket. For a man in his position, it was a quite a lot of money. Jamaica and the West Indies lost out on Burns and the world gained one of its better poets “for a’that”!
Below is an article by one of our favorite contributors, Clark McGinn. It is intriguing and does not lack proper documentation. Clark is one of the best two or three speakers on the Burns circuit worldwide and a Burns scholar if there ever was one! I would be glad to have articles on this topic by others to share with our readers, so please send them for inclusion on Robert Burns Lives! or simply share your thoughts on Burns and slavery with us through the email address above. (FRS: 7.22.10)
You can read this article at
http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...ns_lives92.htm
The rest of Franks articles can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...rank/burns.htm
This week he has sent in a new article on Burns and Slavery. Here is how he sets up the article...
Robert Burns has always been a good topic to write about as thousands of people can attest to having done so in the form of books or articles, not to mention the tons of annual speeches during Burns Night Suppers each January. Lately there has been much interest in Burns and slavery. A presentation entitled “Robert Burns and Slavery: The Dumfries and Galloway Context” was presented in the spring of 2009 at the University of South Carolina by Lizanne Henderson of the University of Glasgow Dumfries Campus. In the fascinating book, Fickle Man, edited by Johnny Rodger and Gerry Carruthers (see review on Robert Burns Lives! at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...ns_lives51.htm), there is an excellent chapter on Burns and slavery by Carruthers. Also on Robert Burns Lives! (http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...ns_lives55.htm) is an additional piece by Carruthers on the subject. Others I am aware of having written on the topic include noted Burns professors Corey Andrews and Carol McGuirk.
Early in his young life Burns had contemplated fleeing Scotland for the islands and working for a slave-operated plantation. Can’t imagine him being part of an operation like that but a desperate man will sometimes contemplate doing things he never would have under normal circumstances. Even though Burns booked passage for his trip on several boats, I do not believe his heart was in it and the ships left without him. Publishing Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect had a lot to do with his decision to remain in Scotland because, for the first time, he had money in his pocket. For a man in his position, it was a quite a lot of money. Jamaica and the West Indies lost out on Burns and the world gained one of its better poets “for a’that”!
Below is an article by one of our favorite contributors, Clark McGinn. It is intriguing and does not lack proper documentation. Clark is one of the best two or three speakers on the Burns circuit worldwide and a Burns scholar if there ever was one! I would be glad to have articles on this topic by others to share with our readers, so please send them for inclusion on Robert Burns Lives! or simply share your thoughts on Burns and slavery with us through the email address above. (FRS: 7.22.10)
You can read this article at
http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...ns_lives92.htm
The rest of Franks articles can be read at http://www.electricscotland.com/fami...rank/burns.htm
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