SLAVERY From a Scottish Point of View... A Lesson From Scottish History 

Find my video on Slavery and the Scottish Church at ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LQpUoJkRvDk.html

Absolutely brilliant should be compulsory viewing for the whole country “the colour of slavery isn’t black or white, the colour of slavery is green” can be applied to so many parts of our lives.

Throughout history, slavery has been practiced by virtually every race, nationality and religion. As you rightly point out, slavery has far less to do with racial enmity than with avarice.

Wow, more people in Scotland and the wider world need to see this, I had no idea coal miners in Scotland had it that bad. This was never mentioned in school and I don't know anyone until now in Scotland who knows this. So fascinating.

Thank you so much. My grandmother being born near Edinburgh and my grandfather in Alsace Germany....that made my father who is black descending from slaves/slave owners, made my life weird . Racism played a big and confusing part of my childhood. As an adult I have children with a man who is half Spanish and half native American . It's fun to watch racists today look at my oldest daughter who is blonde haired hazel eyes and pale skinned , and assume she must be white. Sure she is. But she is also Black and Native American. Ignorance is an affliction that can be treated. Do better people. We are all on the same boat. And if it sinks, would you care what color the person was that saved you from drowning?

Both sides of my Family and all their families mined coal in Scotland from the early 1800s until the 1980s. My father worked from 14 years of age in the Lanarkshire pits and decided joining the H.L.I was a better option 😳 The Death rates for miners was through the roof, many pit owners paid miners with vouchers that could only be spent in shops and pubs in the owned by the owner families. The lesson I learned was rich people enslave poor people in most cases regardless of colour or creed.

Honestly I'd love to see this dude doing full length documentaries.

Best one yet. Loved the ratchet affect. My grandmother was “farmed-out” by her family and given to another family as a domestic servant. She wasn’t given any wages or education, just room and board for her labors. She ran away at 17 to Detroit to escape her servitude.

Telling history with a focus on the the Scots and how they were used during that era is interesting. Shows how deeply connected everyone really is too.

Great information. I just finished reading the book "White Cargo, The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America" by Don Jordan and Michael Walsh. As an African American this book opened my eyes about a history that is not taught here. As we learned, the White people were indentured servants when in reality they were also enslaved. Glad I found you.

Genuinely believe YOU and your content should be in our scottish schools. You have given me the best gift... knowledge

I absolutely love how nuanced your content is. Nothing is ever presented as black and white. Which not only representative of how real life is, but also refreshing in this age of absolutes.

Your videos are simply superb, believe it or not Scots aren’t taught Scottish history, your videos have enlightened and inspired me. Truly a shame our history is forgotten.

Stumbled on this channel by accident. This guy needs to be on TV. If content and teachers like this had been around when I was in school 30+ years ago I wouldn't have hated history as a subject.

Slavery is green. Brilliant and educational. This stuff is what Kids should be learning at school.

I’m not smart and I got a poor education but he’s talking about something I some how knew, humans were born enslaved everywhere from the beginning of our time. Thank you.

Super interesting!! My family has Scottish roots and my Grandpa was a West Virginia coal miner. He started when he was just a boy - having been born in 1896 and orphaned at 11 or 12. I always find anything surrounding this subject interesting, but this video was extremely informative!! One day I hope to visit Scotland!!

After researching my family history, I found that I have at least two centuries of Scottish mining ancestors mainly from the Bothwell / Bellshill area. Some time ago during my research I came across an article explaining the laws you mentioned and the families working in servitude. I remember my dad telling me the same story when I was a child but never really absorb the information until seeing your video. So I would like to say thank you for opening my eyes to the reality of the hard lives that they led. You are 100% correct... slavery is certainly not black & white. It definitely is green.

Sadly in these days it is a rare treat to come across a true historian. Thanks that really gave me a lot to think about. Keep em coming.

Blimey. I put off watching this for a while, sat idly in my ‘watch later’ list, not so much because the content was going to be hard going (clearly it would be) as much as it being something we need to face head-on, but more needing and deserving my full attention and concentration. As with everything, supremely well handled, and thank you so much for putting this together. I had no idea how inhumane the mining industry had been with bonded servitude so this has been an education. It’s still so relevant today.

I remember as a kid my grandfather telling me about this but unfortunately he passed away before I could learn more about our Scottish family history. I'm definitely wanting to learn more

As a white Scotsman I can't get over you not liking raspberries. Great video yet again, desperately trying to get my kids into your channel. 👍

Hello Bruce, from an ex-pat Scot living in Cape Town. They say Scotland's best export are her people. I found your channel a few months back and have loved watching your videos. You're some storyteller. I have a passion for history, and not just Scottish history, and how it molds and forms the relevance of today's world. I think if more youngsters were to watch your channel, they would appreciate a lot more about the world we live in. Time and change are constant and we must change with time. I look forward to more great stories of Scotland as told by you. Thanks.

In addition to visiting the Scottish Mining Museum (which I have), you can also visit the Museum of Scotland, in Edinburgh, and actually see one of the brass collers that were welded around the necks of miners, indentifying who really 'owned' them.

I really appreciate that you will talk about subjects that other people might be discouraged from talking about. And your videos are just generally entertaining and informative. Excellent work!

Thd difference is how the 2 sets of people were treated when slavery actually ended. The stigma of once being a slave would not have applied to one group based on the colour of their skin. Discrimination against black people originates from their status as slaves. Good video by the way.

I think it was the comedian Steve Hughes that said the only difference between slavery then and now is that today we have to pay for our own food and accomodation 😂 “Giving them food and accomodation when we can just give them 8 cents an hour? Right folks, you’re free to go, we’ll see you tomorrow morning at 7am” 😂

I love this brother's work.

I had my eyes opened to the plight of Scottish miners when I read Robert Chrichtons 1972 book " The Camerons" which was based on the lives of his coal mining grandfather. In it he mentioned that in the mines they came upon a skeleton with an iron collar around his neck. He was a criminal who was sentenced for life to work in the mines. Chilling. Thanks for bringing this chapter of humanity out into the open. ❤

I never thought of slavery on a continuum. Absolutely brilliant.

As a former miner I found this particular video extremely fascinating and shared it with a former striking miners group I belong to.

Every video of yours that I click on to watch draws me in. They are well produced, edited, shot, and you Sir (Laird) have the soul of a poet.

Well done, very informative. I always heard people In the coal mine in Wales and Scotland were enslaved. But had never heard anyone give any specifics.

Enlightening…couldn’t hold back tears when you spoke about the landmark judgment in Joseph’s court case…eternally grateful to people who fought against injustices and people in positions of authority who had the courage and humanity to deliver the right decisions …

Extremely interesting video. According to the Domesday Book census, over 10% of the population of England and Wales at the time (around 1085-1086) were slaves, and I would not be surprised if this was true for Scotland as well.

First off, I must say, what an amazing channel you've created. Rich in detail and history. It's amazing to hear how intricate all of these alliances and treaties ended up in real people and ways of life dying. Sad for sure. As a hoot, I bought 10 ft sq of land in Scotland for my woman and I last christmas. Just for fun but it made us a Lord & Lady. Probably something we would not want to be back in that time period for sure! Cheers for the great information.

Well said 👏 Sir. This is true and honest history of slavery through out the world. Totally agree the "green" controls everything and the works of corrupt men and world's government's. Thank you for highlighting that slavery is not related to one's color of skin but by man's evil intentions.It is a sad part of history to all of mankind. The real truth of history being set free here.Again thank you Sir. ❤️ From 🇺🇸 Jessica

He's right slavery was a business and still a business with the human trafficking.😡

The shifting lines, moving notches notion around freedom has an eerie ring of recurring relevance to it. Great video as always!

I consider this man my brother in the struggle for truth and equality for all men & women. #PowerToThePeople

Fantastically logical, well shot, nicely edited, excellently paced. If there was an Oscar for RU-vid videos I'd nominate you.

I born in '67 in Dundee and when I was a kid coal miners to me were incredibly hardworking, brave, tough men who had an almost mythical mystique about them and were definitely respected. Different times. Thanks as ever for the history lesson bud. All the best! 👍

hmmm this is a very deep subject. however, I never knew that the coal mine owners had so much control over it's workers in Scotland. very informative. thank you, Bruce.

We always hear things like “They were of their time” or that certain things were simply the way it was. It is very soul warming to hear any account of people from the time of chattel slavery coming out against it without caveats. The moral question of something kind of vanishes over time because it is never the opponents of capital that get to create the history everyone learns. It gives history a very cold feeling unless you did further down. Thanks

Another great video, I’m truly fascinated by your lectures on Scottish history and how it bleeds into so many other aspects of life past & present, “the colour of slavery is green” says it all really. Best subscription I’ve done in ages.

Brilliant peice ,I've been aware of the miners and salt pan workers for a long time ,I did my family history and found that my 7 times great grandparents were "coaliers" and owned by the coal mine , he was born in 1772 and died 55 years later ,how true ,the true colour of slavery is greed

My god. There is so much in this episode to think through. I admit my mind is kind of blown by the information today. Brilliant, just brilliant. Thank you Bruce and crew.

Thank you Bruce. I’ve been putting off watching this video for fear that it would have been focused on the Triangular Trade. I should have appreciated your usual broadness of scope and watched sooner. Enlightening as always.

You are amazing Bruce and I am a huge fan. Greetings from Stirling!

History can inform us. Thanks for doing that, Bruce. The ratchet is a warning.

Excellent! My Welsh ancestors were coal miners as well. Then migrated and worked in the coal mine of Pennsylvania. I do not know enough about my Scottish ancestors they but I know they were from Perthshire. This should be recommended viewing for all.

Found this channel a few short weeks ago and it's quickly became my favourite. Unbelievable videos sir, keep it up!

Love the subtle contemporary digs against the backdrop of some very interesting real history Long may such content makers stay ‘free.’

You’re a great storyteller. I like the fact that you acknowledge the differences in the type of slavery Black people were subjected to while talking about slavery in Scotland. Tbh, had no idea about coal mining related slavery. Learned something new from your video.

This is so sad! A few years ago, I learned about my ancestor who was captured by the British, put on a slave ship for NJ. He ended up escaping. It opened my eyes to something I never knew existed. I know it's not the same situation as the miners in Scotland but TY for doing this and helping educate others on subjects like this.

This is absolutely fascinating! Who knew! Thanks Bruce! 🙏🇮🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👌

My new favourite RU-vid channel. Being Scottish (Paisley) with an interest in history this channel is essential viewing. History that makes people uncomfortable is the most important type to learn in my opinion, it’s hard to know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been, however uncomfortable the place

As a proud wild raspberry, I just want to say I enjoy content.

Your videos are evolving and increasingly thought provoking. Poignant observations and making modern day comparisons really aids my understanding of the history and how we got to where we are today. Thank you Bruce. Keep smiling 😃

Bruce this was so interesting, serendipity is a wonderful thing. Your channel was just what I needed and I didn't even know it . I'm really looking forward to watching your whole series. ❤️🤩

Excellent tutorial on parts of unheard of Scottish history. Should be mandatory teaching in schools. Keep up the good work and possibly you will educate enough people to see the whole picture of Scotland’s chequered history.

The creeping laws eating away at freedom is ever present. Very timely and informative.

I loved this. Yep, "the color of slavery is green".

Your way of speaking language inspires me and gives me goosepimples. My heritage is complicated. My mother was adopted by a Creek and Swedish couple. My grandmother's mother was Creek. She married a Scottish man, my great granpa on adopted Mom's side. She was the product of an "important" man and a trafficked young woman who was taken advantage if by this "important" group of landstealers. My mother married my father who is related closely to Robert E. Lee. I was raised by my Creek family in Florida. Thank you for this.

I enjoyed simply listening to this. You should narrate audiobooks about history! 👏 👏 👏

I never knew that Culross was pronounced “Kouros”. I used to be based in nearby Rosyth during my Navy days in the 80s.. I should have paid more attention to local history than living it up the the pubs and clubs of Dunfermline and Edinburgh, wearing my Kouros aftershave. Excellent channel. We were never taught this type of Scottish history at my school.

You are so spot on. I grew up in the US South, and never had a racist thought in my mind. I then spent 18 years in the US Army, spending time in the UK, then West Germany, South Korea, and various other locations globally. I never saw any of the indigenous peoples as that different from me, nor to did I see my peers in the Army any different from me ,in fact, I grew even more color blind, we all bleed red, and that is the tie that binds.

Oh , a breath of fresh air , Thank You

This is my favorite channel. I have learned so much history here. Much more than I ever learned in school. Keep up your amazing work sir! I wish you, your family, friends and associates a very merry Christmas and a prosperous healthy new year as well!

As a Jewish person living in Israel, yes raspberries are kosher

A very thought provoking video again, Bruce. It was even more so as a native of Newtongrange (it's one word btw!) and that my ancestors were all miners in that area going back to the 17th Century. The remnants of slavery carried on to the early 20th century. A manager was in charge of the town - not just the employees but their houses, which were coal board owned, their families and children. It was not uncommon for the manager, while walking round the town,to say to a miner, 'Yer gairden's a mess. See me in my office tomorrow.' Or ,'I see yer bairn is about ready to leave the school. He'll be working doon the pit, I suppose.' If the miner protested and said his child was going to college, the response was akin to 'Do ye like living in this hoose, Mr {Surname}. A 19th century ancestor lost two children in three days due to scarlet fever and had to carry on working. The house my dad lived in before he died did not have running water until after the Second World War! Your video has given me a new respect for my ancestors which has come with greater understanding of their conditions. Once again, Bruce, top notch stuff. PS Any Tunnocks Tea Cakes left?

Black guy here. Found out I'm 2% Scotish. I landed here. I'm 2 minutes in and I like it so far.

Sir Bruce, even before I watch your program, I want to tell you a story. I am the first scholar of Edgar Allan Poe to go to Scotland to investigate his Scottish Connections. All have written that he was Irish and English. I did it as an Independent Scholar, not a Ph. D. Professor of English, but I have given 10 papers at universities around the world to International Conferences for Professors of American and British Literature, on "Poe's Scottish Connections." My last one was in Bangkok, 10-15 years ago? He was from Ulster Scots, but not Irish. Your program gives me courage to share an essay I wrote about "Robert Burns, John Galt, and Edgar Allan Poe and the Slave Trade." It is 14 pages long. I want you to read it. It was meant for the Burns Chronicle, but I know it is explosive, so I never sent it in. Few Burnsians I have ever known would know of your programs, I believe, so I am safe to show you. My deceased wife and I spent 20 years on the project. I self-published in 2013, but never got it to a printer-vendor, such as Amazon. She died in 2016 of cancer. Now I am 82, have Parkinson's disease, dyslexia, and eyes failing, so no hopes of it being for sale. I do not like to write this here, but I could not find an email, which you may not care about anyway. I am a former Sacramento Police Detective and Lawyer, but retired after 35 years in aviation (USAF and United Airlines). My credentials are extensive. I developed the fact that Black and White are colors, not races, and that one is either an African-country, or European-country, but not Black and White. My wife was Japanese-American and I am German-American. We were not Yellow and White. That color code was developed by the Dutch on their voyages for the Slave Trade. Sgt. Brill, USAF (Ret), M. A., J. D., Thailand "I wait you." (a Thai bar girl's expression). Now to your story!

Still loving the videos...👍🏻. And laughed out loud at your point about the colour of slavery being green, never a truer word spoken in modern terms. Keep the great videos coming Bruce, I'm using them now to educate my grand kids and myself...! wish my teacher's had been as personable as you at school, I may have learnt something back then.😆

As an older Scott I was surprised by this, why was I not taught this in school ? My memory of the coal miners is the same as yours, I knew many and we thought they were great men who did an amazing important job, and they were ! Just shows that no matter how old you become, you can learn something new every day, even about the place you are from. Great video, should be compulsory viewing in every school, thank you for the gift of knowlege.

absolutely loved this. a great thought provoking piece of history. thank you

Very well said, Bruce! Very well said indeed. Thank you for this excellent video.

Superb and extremely interesting! I thought this might be about the Jacobites shipped to the West Indies but it was even more than that. Racism is only ignorance pure and simple.

Never heard anyone mention this period in the history of coal miners ever before. Thank you. Great video

Sir, you're absolutely brilliant. I'm hooked. Keep em coming!

Love you man and may God bless you.

I think whenever I mention this channel to people, this will be the video I send them to from now on, by far the best place to come for the lesser talked about parts of our history. Captivating stuff again, Bruce.

Thank You Bruce. We all bleed red . Slavery alive and well in many parts of the world to this day 😢.

Had to revisit this one. It's a study in carefully considered content. Wonderful. I live in an old house once owned by a coal Barron. It was neglected and still has problems but the coat of arms over the entrance is a constant reminder of those awful feudal days.

Absolutely astonishing. I'd no idea of the plight of coal workers. Great video.

Slavery has existed for thousands of years across the globe. The Middle East was the most dominant market for slavery, with even white European slaves along with black Africans. You can even find parts of coastal Scotland men and mostly women being taken as slaves during raids by vikings.

The way of production for this video reminds me of how history shows used to be. Or documentary shows or a discover channel back in the day...only better. I don't know how to put it...but it's comforting. Subscribed!

I just got back from a couple weeks in Scotland and have been greedily drinking up all the history & current events of the nation that I can. This was really fascinating, and a very interesting spin on a familiar topic to me, as an American.

My first image was of the Dublin slave market followed by the Romans carrying of our tattoo blue painted warriors to fight and serve in Rome And my son has the exact same ancestry as yourself and I tried to teach him from my own education in Liverpool in the 60s. We were taught About the disgusting trade my city’s wealth came from and I have shown him the photographs of the chains stapled into the walls of the basements of the buildings all along the river front As a photographer I have been in many of these caverns. Yes even that famous one. We moved out of the bombed out city to a new house in a mining village just outside of Liverpool and the miners told of these tales as well Maybe I am lucky that I had a dad who dragged me around any and all history and archaeology site and was taught to learn from history. Keep up all the great work you are doing. Our youngest need to learn these things to not make the same mistakes in the future

I had a very good basic knowledge of slavery. I knew the story of slavery and it's financial rewards as well as the colourlessness. I knew of the slaves taken by every race on Earth as their conquered their neighbours and other nations, how Celts, Vikings and going back to Syrians, Greeks, Persians, Medo-Persians, Egyptians etc took slaves. It was a common practice that you would enslave your enemies people as bounty of raids. I knew also that many famous leaders had been slaves as was St. Patrick. I didn't know the history of Scottish miners as slaves, as many of my family had their origins in the pits of Scotland then Lancashire and Yorkshire - that was new, so many thanks for filling in that part of my education. I think a visit to the museum is on my list when back north of the boarder.

This is just unspeakably excellent! The clarity, the calm presentation, the cogence...Wow. Thank you!

Wow, you did a fantastic job on this. Thanks for pointing out that there were differences between what was happening there and in the Americas.

Chattel Slavery is were your children's children are born slaves and this indeed had a color. It was Black. There is a current racist meme on Irish slavery which is mythical. There were slaves from every group throughout history and many millions worked as virtual slaves or indentured servants but this is a very different thing. In Ireland the Magdalen laundries were virtual slaves in the 20th century, but again, a different thing as were Naval press gangs. It serves no useful purpose to conflate the two and I am glad you draw the distinction.

Anyone else get the feeling that the ratchet is slowly tightening around us now

My Scottish ancestors The McGowan Family were traded as slaves, thats how they came to America. Thank you for the great information!

This video, describing the entirety of slavery, is very pertinent at this very moment. People would do well to be mindful of that.

Excellent video and so relevant! As someone who has studied a lot of Scottish history, I knew about Joseph Knight, but I had never read or heard about the coal miner laws. Thank you for adding these important pieces to my historical knowledge.

Brilliant presentation. It should be run on large domestic and international platforms. Coal mining on Vancouver Island has its own particular history. Fascinating to think about alternative sources of energy and the politics of same.

Watching this makes me realize I need to learn a lot more about my history, our history

Good to see the real conversation.