Impact case study database

Scotland profited from the historic trafficking of enslaved people, but also played a key role in the abolition movement. Research led by Bernier, in collaboration with Taylor, has helped the National Library of Scotland raise public awareness of this significant effort, focusing for the first time on the work of Black social justice campaigners, as opposed to more well-known, white men. While establishing the importance of nineteenth-century Black abolitionists in Scotland, the research has also transformed understanding of Frederick Douglass in the United States, where the author and activist had become heavily mythologised. In the words of Walter O. Evans, whose previously unseen collections have been widely used in Our Bondage and Our Freedom, “ Bernier’s scholarship… has added a new dimension to the narrative of Douglass”, translating him from “ the historic, monolithic character the world has come to know” into “ a humanized and accessible figure… in whom we can more easily relate to our contemporary struggles and see our contemporary selves” (5.1).

The first exhibition based on the research was the Strike for Freedom: Slavery, Civil War and the Frederick Douglass Family “Treasures” display at the National Library of Scotland (NLS). It was the Library’s first ever exhibition on Black transatlantic histories. It attracted more media coverage (including in Scotland on Sunday [print circulation approximately 11,000], Edinburgh Evening News [approximately 14,000], The National [approximately 9,000], and the BBC [5.2a]), and higher visitor numbers (17,820 people over 18 weeks in 2018-19 [5.2b, p.31]), than any other NLS Treasures display. As well as “ conceiv[ing] and shap[ing] Strike for Freedom” and being “ involved in every aspect of the curation”, Bernier delivered most of its “ substantial events programme developed from, and featuring, her world-leading research” (5.2b, p.30). Events for 450+ people included three guided tours, five Black History city tours and two public lectures, all booked to capacity, an Education Pack, and bespoke tours for schools, adult learners and community groups, including homeless people and people living with dementia. Extensive visitors’ comments (5.3) included: “ Shocked to find how ignorant I am regarding the history of anti-slavery from the black viewpoint… I stand corrected and chastened” (pp.1 & 19); “ I spent an hour transfixed. Delighted to have seen this rare chunk of history in Edinburgh” (pp.1 & 20); “ I had no idea about the connection with Scotland. This is a really excellent and informative display that fills in so many gaps” (pp.1 & 20); “ It’s exciting and moving to learn of the connections between the abolitionist movement in America [I’m originally from Boston MA] and in my adopted home” (pp.5 & 28); “ important and moving… a lesson for us all” (pp.4 & 25); “Never more necessary than now” (pp.6 & 29).

Reflecting on the NLS’s use of the research, the Lead Curator of US and Commonwealth Collections remarks on an “ exceptionally positive impact” of “ permanent benefit to the Library” (5.2b, p.30). With particular reference to changes in curatorial practice and understanding, the Curator reports that the research helped the NLS to reappraise its existing physical and online content on slavery and anti-slavery and, in the exhibition, to “ present a complex, vitally important subject in a sensitive, accurate, powerful way. Prof Bernier greatly enhanced the sensitivity of the Library’s work and the sophistication of our story-telling” (5.2b, p.30). Linking into her work on the Strike for Freedom Black History city tours and Education Pack, Bernier successfully nominated Douglass as the first person of colour to be recognised by Historic Environment Scotland with a commemorative plaque on his former Edinburgh residence, which was unveiled during the exhibition’s run in November 2018. This event became the focus of a documentary by social justice filmmaker Parisa Urquhart, which has since been publicly screened and discussed with several hundred viewers in Scotland and the USA, including as part of Black History Month (UK, October 2019 and 2020 and USA, February 2020) by hosts such as the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (at Glasgow City Chambers) and the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University, Rhode Island. Most recently, it has screened at festivals, including the New York African Diaspora International Film Festival (its official US premiere) (5.4).

As testified to by the Frederick Douglass Honor Society (Maryland), the research has widened understanding of Douglass and his family in the United States to incorporate “ the connection from Scotland to America and the relationship and work Frederick Douglass did to speak out against injustice everywhere” (5.5). To date, the research has underpinned three US exhibitions: a permanent display in the Maryland State House, and temporary shows at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (April to June 2019) and the SCAD Museum of Art at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia (October 2019 to January 2020). The National Gallery of Art (NGA) has written that “ Professor Bernier has inspired and made possible more Gallery programming than any other outside scholar” (5.6a), noting that her research enabled the venue to arrange the first ever library loan exhibition in its 80-year history, attracting 789 visitors to the “special-focus” display during its short run (5.6b). Additionally, by the end of December 2020, the NGA’s recordings of two of Bernier’s talks on the research (now permanent digital resources) had been played over 11,000 times (5.6c).

Curators and art historians at SCAD Museum of Art have referred to the “ exceptional” and “ assiduous” research as “ an invaluable resource” in what has been a “ rare opportunity to extend our educational initiative… beyond the present era. With Professor Bernier’s knowledge, we were able to enhance our display of great artwork with a historical foundation that served to give context to contemporary concerns of race and the legacy of slavery” (5.7a). Writing in October 2019, just after the exhibition launched to over 1,300 people (of 14,232 visitors overall [5.7b]), the Museum’s Assistant Curator noted that, as well as having an “ overwhelmingly positive response” from Savannah College of Art and Design students and faculty, the show had “ engaged citizens of the city… in a way we have not before seen”, helping audiences “ move beyond the understanding of Douglass as an isolated public figure” (5.7a). Likewise, the Maryland State Archives, which installed the public, permanent display in the Maryland State House as part of its Legacy of Slavery in Maryland programme (1,829 visitors until the building closed due to COVID-19 [5.8a; 5.8b]) has noted that “ Bernier’s continued Douglass research, often of a personal nature, expands the [programme’s] ability to instill humanity to a man whose iconic status sometimes obscured it” (5.8a).

Beyond the partner venues that have collaborated in Our Bondage and Our Freedom, the research has been used by numerous other stakeholders, from teachers and community groups to libraries and charities. Bernier has personally delivered around 100 public talks and radio and television interviews on both sides of the Atlantic, and the posters she produced using digitised materials from Evans’s collection have been – as Rochester Public Library noted in an email to her – “ such a great teaching tool; they allowed us to tell a story about the Douglass family that [we] never could have done without them – and without your work” (5.9). Politically, Maryland State Archives has reported that activities based on the research have “ increased awareness among the members of the Maryland General Assembly, who… will be unveiling statues of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman… the first African American figures installed in the State House, which dates back to 1772” (5.8a). On the basis of her “ extensive achievements as an internationally respected scholar”, together with her “ contribution to the celebration of Black History Month and the bicentennial of the birth of Frederick Douglass”, Bernier has been awarded a State of Maryland Governor's Citation presented to her during one of her many public talks by Lieutenant Governor Boyd Rutherford (5.10; pictured page 4).