A collaborative decolonial research project.

Join us at the UncoverED exhibition launch on 31 January 2019 in the Chrystal Macmillan building. Come along to preview the exhibition before its official opening in February. Here you …

1809 – William Fergusson, the first known black student of the University of Edinburgh, matriculates Wong Fun James Africanus Beale Horton

Born in Jamaica, he qualified in medicine in 1813 before becoming the only ever black governor of Sierra Leone in the mid-1840s. Fergusson became a model example for future West …

Illustration by Yaz Serrano By Dingjian Xie In the 1850s, the University of Edinburgh became one of the first destinations for early Chinese students who wanted to study overseas. Dr …

Image Credit: Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh By Tom Cunningham James “Africanus” Beale Horton was born in Gloucester (Sierra Leone) in 1835. Graduating (M.D.) from Edinburgh University in 1859, …

Jesse Ewing Glasgow Jr. 1883 – Formation of the Edinburgh Indian Association by “half-a-dozen” students Kadambini Ganguly

Illustration by Yaz Serrano By Hannah McGurk Jesse Ewing Glasgow Jr. was an exceptional African American intellectual who attended the University of Edinburgh 1858-60. After attending elite institutions for African …

It is one of the first Indian Associations in Britain. [‘Edinburgh Indian Association’, The Student, 11/05/1961]

Illustration by Yaz Serrano By Vidhipssa Mohan Prafulla Chandra Ray was a chemist, an industrialist as well as a Bengali nationalist. He was born on 2 August 1861 in Bengal Presidency …

Illustration by Yaz Serrano By Vidhipssa Mohan Kadambini Ganguly (1862-1923) is one of the earliest women physicians from South Asia. Ganguly was born in Bihar on 18 July 1862 when India …

Image reproduced courtesy of the National Archives of Singapore By Dingjian Xie During his life, Lim Boon Keng (Lin Wenqin, 林文庆), a Chinese Singaporean, was celebrated as one of the most …

1900 – Richard Akiwande Savage, Nigerian assistant editor of The Student newspaper, John Alcindor and William Meyer attend the first Pan-African Congress in London as delegates of the Edinburgh Afro-West …

Illustration by Yaz Serrano By Tom Cunningham Arthur Cecil Alport (1880-1959) born in Beaufort West, the Karoo, South Africa, was a medical student at Edinburgh between 1900 and 1905. He is …

Image – reproduced courtesy of Hakim Adi & the British Library By Henry Mitchell In 1908, a footnote in a book about a missionary skeptically quipped: “His Highness Prince Bandele Ominiyi …

Herbert Christian Bankole-Bright 1910s – Scotland Yard monitor the Edinburgh Indian Association fearing revolutionary discussions Finandra Nath Bose Clara Marguerite Christian Jung Bahadur Singh

Illustration by Yaz Serrano By Tom Cunningham H.C. Bankole-Bright enrolled at the Edinburgh Royal College of Surgeons in 1905 and qualified as physician in 1910. He ran a medical practice in …

Image reproduced courtesy of the University of Glasgow Archives & Special Collections, University collection, GB248 UP5/4/7. By Natasha Ruwona Finandra/Fanandra Nath Bose (1888/9-1926) was born in Calcutta, India.  Beginning his studies …

Image Credit: Estelle Appiah & Margaret Rousse-Jones, Returned Exile:A Biography of George James Christian of Dominica and the Gold Coast, 1869-1940 By Esme Allman Clara Marguerite Gordon (née Christian) was a Dominican-born …

Image courtesy of the Idries Shah Foundation By Esme Allman Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah was an Afghani-Indian, who attended Edinburgh University to study medicine in the late 1910s. Ali Shah was …

Illustration by Yaz Serrano   By Lea Ventre Jung Bahadur Singh was first named ‘Deenanath’ at birth, meaning ‘protector of the poor’. His father preferred the name Jung Bahadur, after a …

1921 – The Chinese Student – the “Official Organ of the Edinburgh Chinese Students’ Union” – is launched Yuan Changying 1927 – Students of colour are banned from bars and …

[The Chinese Student, 1:1 (June 1921)]

Image Credit: Cultural Relics By Dingjian Xie Yuan Changying (袁昌英, 11 October 1894–28 April 1973), a playwright, novelist, scholar of literature and feminist in China, was the first Chinese female graduate …

A delegation of African, Indian and Caribbean students together meets the Lord Provost in protest. Another future ANC president AB Xuma also graduates.

Image – reproduced courtesy of Mike Savage By Henry Mitchell Dr Agnes Yewande Savage, the was probably first West African woman to qualify in medicine. An outstanding student at Edinburgh, Agnes …

Ken ‘Snakehips’ Johnson Kesaveloo Goonam

Ken ‘Snakehips’ Johnson, from Bourne, Mother Country. Image reproduced courtesy of Stephen Bourne By Lea Ventre Kenrick Reginald Hijmans Johnson never finished his studies at the University of Edinburgh. Alas, his …

Image – reproduced courtesy of the Gandhi-Luthuli Documentation Centre By Henry Mitchell A cigarette-smoking, single mother of three, who graduated from Edinburgh in 1936, ran numerous successful medical practices and dressed …

Image reproduced courtesy of the Centre for Research Collections, University of Edinburgh By Lea Ventre Lord David Thomas Pitt, Baron Pitt of Hampstead studied medicine at University of Edinburgh between 1932 …

Oku Ampofo Hastings Banda Ansuyah Singh

Illustration by Yaz SerranoI By Natasha Ruwona Dr. Oku Ampofo (1908-1998) of Mampong, Ghana, lived in Edinburgh from 1932 to 1940, and became the first Ghanaian to receive a government scholarship …

Image is a reproduction courtesy of the The National Archives, reference CO1069/165/5 By Henry Mitchell The University of Edinburgh renamed the Hastings ‘Kamuzu’ Banda building on Hill Place in the 1990s. Whilst …

Image – reproduced courtesy of Sangamithra Choudree By Laurence Jarlett Dr Ansuyah Singh studied medicine in Edinburgh during World War 2, arriving in 1936 and completing her studies in 1944. Born …

Image reproduced courtesy of the Centre for Research Collections, University of Edinburgh By Fatima Seck Born in March 1916 in Larteh, Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana) to a historical family that …

Asrat Woldeyes Florence Nwapa Donald Locke

Image – reproduced courtesy of Assefa Negash By Tom Cunningham On the 30th April 1998 Amnesty International issued an appeal “expressing serious concern” about the health and medical treatment of …

Image – reproduced courtesy of Eljine Olga Nzeribe By Fatima Seck Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa — more commonly known as Flora Nwapa — is a woman whose accomplishments are impressive in …

Image – reproduced courtesy of Brenda Locke and Tiffany Boyle By Natasha Ruwona Donald Locke (1930-2010) was born in Guyana and travelled to the UK to study art. In 1954 …

Semei Nyanzi 1967 – The Labour Government introduce differential fees for “foreign” students for the first time

Image – reproduced courtesy of the Centre for Research Collections, University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh University Students Association By Laurence Jarlett As a pre-eminent economist and prominent government participant, Semei Nyanzi …

Primary source material reproduced from Julius Nyerere, Ujamaa: The Basis of African Socialism (Dar Es Salaam, 1962) Julius Nyerere published Ujamaa: The Basis of African Socialism in 1962 soon after …

Primary source material reproduced from Bayo Olusanya, ‘Immigration’, The Student, 26/04/1962. Before the 1962 Commonwealth Immigration Act passed, citizens of Commonwealth countries could migrate to Britain with relative ease. After …

Primary source material reproduced from ‘Sportrait: Rudi Webster’, The Student, 17/05/1962. A native of Barbados, this 6’ 5” lean and lanky West Indian is the powerhouse of Scottish cricket and …

Illustration by Yaz Serrano By Hannah McGurk Kenneth Ramchand wrote his PhD on Caribbean literature between 1959 and 1963. He was a scholarship student from Trindad (Kayalis & Natsina, 2011). …

Primary source material reproduced from M.R., ‘Black and White Student Traffic’, The Student, 24/10/1963. Dr Julius Nyerere, dark horse in the Rectorial stakes, is already Chancellor of a half-empty University …

Primary source material reproduced from Kenneth Ramchand, ‘The Colour Problem at the University: A West Indian’s Changing Attitudes’, in H. Tajfel & J.L. Dawson (eds.) Disappointed Guests: Essays by African, …

Image courtesy of Professor Geoff Palmer By Natasha Ruwona Godfrey Henry Oliver Palmer, referred to now as Sir Geoff Palmer, was born in 1940 in Jamaica. Palmer joined his mother who was …

[Perraton, A History of Foreign Students in Britain]

Primary source material reproduced from Kole Omotoso, The Edifice, (London, 1971), pp.8-9; 27-29; 32-33; 42-43. A year before graduating with a PhD in Arabic literature, Edinburgh-based Kole Omotoso published a …

Illustration by Yaz Serrano By Fatima Seck Bankole Ajibabi Omotoso, more commonly known as Kole Omotoso, was born in Nigeria in 1943 to a traditional elite Yoruba family (Stellenbosch Writers, n.d). …

Primary source material reproduced from ‘Accommodation Apartheid: Allegations Denied’, The Student, 16/11/1972. The University Student Accommodation Department denied yesterday any knowledge of racial discrimination in the placement of tenants. Miss …

Primary source material reproduced from J. Macdonald, ‘Government Racist’, The Student, November 1976. ‘All of us here are victims of the culture of silence.’ Last week-end there was a conference …

Primary source material reproduced from ‘Spelling It Out’, The Student, 02/12/1976. This week sees a major push in the campaign to stop discrimination against overseas students. Particularly the higher fees …

Primary source material reproduced from Emmanuel Evans-Anfom, To the Thirsty Land: Autobiography of a Patriot (Achimota, 2003), pp.98-104 Physician and professor Emmanuel Evans-Anfom was one of a number of Ghanaian …