The Powis Gates — Attraction in Aberdeen City

The history of the Powis Gate is very interesting. It looks like a fairytale but has a dark story. The Powis gate, Old Aberdeen, was built in 1834 with gains from the work of enslaved people on Jamaican plantations. Among them was Quasheba. 7 children are also listed as having Quasheba as a mother: Patsy, James, Junes, Edlin, Habbie, Samuel, and Bessie Jones. These names are taken from registries, between 1817 and 1832, of the enslaved on Castile Fort Pen Estate  “in the possession” of Hugh Fraser Leslie. The Powis Leslie family built this gate in 1833/34, partly with compensation money for the Abolition of slavery. The enslaved were not compensated. On 22nd May 2021 an event was held at the gate to mark its links to slavery. A poem, “The Violence of Identity” was performed and two ceramic panels were hung back to back on the iron gate with rope. One had the poem embossed on it and one an imagined portrait of Quasheba and the quote from a classical African playwright, Publius Terentius Afer: “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto, I am human, I consider nothing human...

The Powis Gate has very interesting history dated back to 1834 with enslaved people on Jamaican plantations. It looks like a fairy castle but holding a dark story. The  Powis Leslie family built this gate in 1833, partly with compensation money for the abolition of slavery. May 22th 2021 an event was held at the gate to mark its link to slavery. A poem, “The Violence of Identity” was performed and two ceramic panels were hung back to back on the iron gate with rope. One had the poem embossed on it and one an imagined portrait of Quasheba (a slave woman) and the quote from a classical African playwright, Publius Terentius “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto, I am human, I consider nothing human...

Interesting plaque explains gates were built using reparation money compensating for loss of slaves. No compensation for the people enslaved. Provides a thought provoking edge...