Quote:
Originally Posted by isaidso
Black people have been in Nova Scotia for almost 250 years. Birchtown, Nova Scotia was at one point the largest settlement of free Africans outside Africa. A good chunk emigrated to Sierra Leone. It may surprise Canadians to know but as recently as 1951, Nova Scotia accounted for 45% of Canada's entire Black population.
"Poor land, inadequate supplies, harsh climate, discrimination and broken promises of assistance led many Birchtown residents to petition the British Government for a remedy, led by Thomas Peters. As a result of these grievances, many Birchtown residents chose to accept Britain's offer and join a 1792 migration to found a free ethnic African settlement in Sierra Leone in West Africa. The majority of blacks who left for Sierra Leone were from Birchtown. Of the blacks who left for Sierra Leone, 600 were from the Birchtown and Digby areas, 220 were from Preston, 200 were from New Brunswick, and 180 were from the Annapolis-Digby area."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birchtown,_Nova_Scotia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_...s#17th_century
https://blackloyalist.com/cdc/communities/birchtown.htm |
while of some interest, that was a small, temporary camp of revolution loyalists who petitioned england and went to africa. like 1k in the whole region.
in contrast, there were around half a million free slaves in the lower states before the civil war. most people dont think about that at all either. just maryland had 84k and baltimore had like 18k by 1800s. this is not even getting in to the issues in the south of mulattos, carribeans, etc.. its all a sad and strange history, but much more complex than people think.
