Black Nova Scotians
A BRIEF STORY OF BLACK NOVA SCOTIANS
The Anglican Church in this diocese has a rich history of membership, drawing its founding members from England, Scotland, German, France and the colonies of British North America. Some immigrants brought with them our black founding members, some of whom came as free people and some as slaves. This is the story of the Maroons and the Black Loyalists.
The Jamaican Maroons
The term “maroon” was probably derived from the Spanish “cimarron” meaning wild, or it could also mean living in the mountains. The term was often applied to runaway slaves in other colonies so that communities of Maroons can be found in both North and South America.
In 1655 an imminent British attack on Jamaica resulted in the Spanish freeing their slaves. These slaves fled to the Island’s mountainous area of St. John and were joined by others. For some 150 years they raided plantations and frustrated the British. After several Maroon uprisings the authorities in Jamaica determined to take action by deporting some 600 Maroons from the Trelawny Town area. On June 26, 1796 three ships sailed from Port Royal Harbour in Jamaica to Halifax. The ultimate goal was to send the Maroons to the free black colony of Sierra Leone. Two commissioners accompanied them, Colonel William Quarrel and Alexander Octerloney. These men were to supervise the new settlement at the expense of the government in Jamaica.
Nova Scotia’s Lieutenant Governor, Sir John Wentworth, believed that the Maroons would eventually become good settlers. This idea was reinforced by the Duke of Kent, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in British North America. The Duke was impressed with the proud bearing of the Maroons and, no doubt, their long history of fighting and independence. Accordingly, the Duke employed the Maroons to work on the fortifications of Citadel Hill in Halifax, hence the Maroon Bastion. He also organized the men into military units which emphasized their previous style of self-government. Their uniform was distinguished by white buttons with the insignia of an alligator holding a wheat sheaf and an olive branch and inscribed “Jamaica to the Maroons 1796.”
With orders to settle the Maroons in Nova Scotia, Wentworth used a Jamaican grant to purchase some 5,000 acres of land in the community of Preston, an abandoned Loyalist settlement. A further allowance came from England to provide religious instruction and schooling. Wentworth appointed the Rev. Benjamin Gerrish Gray to serve the Maroons, a task somewhat complicated by the Maroons’ previous polygamist lifestyle and this, his first incumbency. A chapel was opened in the settlement on October 12, 1796.
The severe Nova Scotian winters of 1796-1798 challenged the Maroons and their tempers considerably. They regarded work on the land as a somewhat servile occupation. In 1799 supplies were withheld from Preston in an attempt to restore order. Wentworth did his best to provide a positive outcome for the Maroons, even to the point of nearly bankrupting himself. He finally agreed to a second deportation. After considerable negotiation with the Sierra Leone Company the authorities in Nova Scotia deported the Nova Scotia Maroons. In October 1800 they arrived in Freetown Harbour, Sierra Leone. Their descendants are still known as the Nova Scotia Maroons.
Some of the Maroons remained in Nova Scotia. A 1917 census showed that a few people in Tracadie and Preston were of Maroon descent.
The Black Loyalists
The American War of Independence (1775-1783) caused some 3000 men, women and children to flood into Nova Scotia between 1783 and 1785. White Loyalists brought their slaves with them. In addition many blacks came as free. The Governor of Virginia offered freedom to any black person who would take up arms with the British against the rebels. Some 2000 people joined his forces. The 1779 Philipsburg Proclamation led to a promise of protection, land and a supporting certificate of freedom. The certificate was issued to any black person who had been recorded in the Book of Negroes.
Ships departed for Annapolis Royal and Shelburne. Outside Shelburne a black community was established in Birchtown. Few, either black or white, received the promised land, and the men, women and children used previously learned skills working cheaply for the white Loyalists. Against all odds, the shanty town of Birchtown became a thriving community of some 1000 people. It had its own school, church and graveyard. Their success was watched jealously by the white Loyalists of Shelburne, especially demobbed military men. Riots ensued and much of Birchtown was destroyed.
While the predominant religion of the black Nova Scotians is Baptist, there are Anglicans who can claim their heritage from early black settlers in the areas of Annapolis Royal, Birchtown, Digby, Hammond’s Plains, Lincolnville, Monastery, Mulgrave, Preston, Shelburne, Sydney and Weymouth. Our black heritage is unique within Canada and in the establishment of a faith community within our diocese.
(With thanks to Dr. Henry Bishop, Dr. Brian Cuthertson, Lawrence Hill, Wikipedia).