Founding Cultures of Nova Scotia

Black Nova Scotians

The story of Black Nova Scotians

1782-85 About 3,500 Blacks fled to what is now Nova Scotia and New Brunswick at the close of the American Revolution. They had fought for Britain in return for freedom. Once in the Maritimes, they were cheated of land, forced to work on public projects such as roads and buildings and

denied equal status.

1782-85The 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.

1782-85Between 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.

1782-85 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.

1792Exodus to Africa: 1,190 men, women and children left

Halifax on 15 ships for the long voyage to Sierra Leone. Sixty-five died en route.

1796In 1796 about 600 Jamaican Maroons from Trelawney Town were deported from Jamaica to Nova Scotia following their rebellion against the colonial government. The Jamaican government tired of the cost of maintaining

order, had decided to rid themselves of "the problem".

Immediate actions were put in place for the removal of one group of Maroons (Trelawney) to Lower Canada

(Quebec); Upper Canada (Ontario) had also been suggested as a suitable place. However, it was eventually decided that this group be sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia, until any further instructions were received from England.. They faced miserable conditions and opted for Sierra

Leone. They left Halifax in 1800.

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.

Roughly 2,000 U.S. Blacks, refugees from the War of 1812, settled in the Maritimes.

1833Slavery officially abolished in the British

Empire.

1920sHundreds of Caribbean immigrants, called the “later arrivals,” flocked to Cape Breton to work in coal mines and the steel factory.

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