Black Loyalist Migration
The Black Loyalists arrived in Nova Scotia between 1783 & 1785 as a result of the American Revolution. They were the largest group of people of African descent to come to Nova Scotia at any one time.
When Sir Henry Clinton issued the Phillipsburg proclamation, it stated that any Negro to desert the rebel cause would receive full protection, freedom, and land. It is estimated that many thousands of people of African descent joined the British and became British supporters.
When the Americans won the war and the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, British forces and supporter had to leave the new United States.
The British American Commission identified the Black people in New York who had joined the British before the surrender, and issued ‘certificates of freedom” signed by General Birch. Those who chose to emigrate were evacuated by ship. To make sure no one attempted to leave who did not have a certificate of freedom, the name of any Black person on board a vessel, whether slave, indentured servant, or free, was recorded along with the details of the enslavement, escape, and military service, in a document called the Book of Negroes.
Between April and November 1783,114 ships were inspected in New York harbor. An unknown number of ships left New York and other ports before and after these dates. Over 3,000 Black Loyalist were enrolled in the Book of Negroes, but perhaps as many as 5, 00 Black people left New York for Nova Scotia, the West Indies, Quebec, England, Germany and Belgium.
The Black Loyalist were landed at Port Roseway (now Shelburne) Birchtown, Port Mouton, Annapolis, Fort Cumberland, Halifax, and Saint John, New Brunswick.
WAR OF 1812 REFUGEE MIGRATION
The War of 1812 between the United States and Britain was another era that saw a new influx of Black families to the British territories of Nova Scotia & New Brunswick .
As former slaves the chance to seek freedom outside of the United States was to good to resist. The result was that between 1813 -1816 approximately two thousand Black men , women & children commonly referred to as Black Refugees arrived in the Maritimes.
New Brunswick received between four or five hundred and Nova Scotia the remainder, which in year 1816 numbered to over one thousand & six hundred. Their settlement was full of difficulties as well as opposition from White settlers afraid of losing control of their power in society. Discrimination in land grants , jobs, and supplies was rampant as these individuals tried to make a living and provide a better life for their families in areas such as Preston, Africville, Hammonds Plains and Beechville.
Some were eventually put up in Poor houses or upon early arrival periods quarantined on Melville Island in Halifax , where the the Armdale Yacht Club is located today. A small number were enticed to leave for Trinidad in 1821, but the remainder stayed and today their descendants live in the various Black Communities across Nova Scotia.
The Jamaican Maroons Arrive
From the time of British conquest in 1655, the Maroons in Jamaica waged war against the British colonizers of the island. The Jamaican Government succeeded in overcoming the Maroons in 1796, after 140 years of intermittent warfare, and subsequently deported one group of defeated Maroons (Trelawney) to Halifax.
On June 26, 1796, the ships Dover, Mary, and Anne sailed from Port Royal Harbour in Jamaica, bearing 543 men, women and children. The Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in North America was impressed with the proud bearing and other characteristics of the Maroons when they arrived in Halifax, so he employed the entire group to work on the new fortifications at Citadel Hill. The Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Wentworth believed the Maroons would be good settlers. He was ordered by the Duke of Portland to settle the Maroons in Nova Scotia.
The government of Jamaica extended a credit of 25,000 Jamaican pounds to help settle the Maroons, of which 3,000 pounds was expended on 5,000 acres of land to build the community of Preston. Governor Wentworth was also granted an allowance of 240 pounds annually from England to provide religious instruction and schooling for the community.
Facing the harshness of the Canadian climate and the unsuitability of farming to their trained military dispositions, the Maroons soon became less tolerant of the conditions in which they were living.
The Maroons Depart
The winters of 1796-98 were very severe. The Maroons suffered discomfort and grew restive and angry at their situation.
In the spring of 1799, Governor Wentworth felt obliged to dispatch Captain Solomon and 50 men of the Royal Nova Scotia Regiment to Preston where they withheld supplies from the most refractory so as to maintain order. Meanwhile, Wentworth became increasingly disillusioned with the Maroons as settlers, and the money from the Jamaican government for their support was wearing very thin. The Maroons were not in favour of the suggested ways of supporting themselves in Canada and seemed likely to become a charge on the public purse.
Governor Wentworth, in accordance with the demands of the Maroons, concluded the best resolution would be to remove them from Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone in Africa.
Although the majority of the Maroons left Nova Scotia, there were a few who remained: a census done in 1817 of the Black community of Tracadie in Guysborough revealed that several persons living there were descendants of the Maroons. The Maroons also left descendents in the Preston Area of Halifax County.
References
· Grant, John. "Black Nova Scotians" pg. 15-16