The
Nova Scotian Settlers (also known as the
Nova Scotians or
Settlers) were
African Americans who escaped to the
British during the
Revolutionary
War.
John
Clarkson, the English abolitionist and first governor of
Freetown
, was the most respected friend and patron of the
Nova Scotian settlers. Thomas
Jefferson referred to these people as "the fugitives from these
States".
Nearly two thirds of the Nova Scotian
settlers were from Virginia
.
The second
largest group of settlers were from South Carolina
, and a smaller number were from Maryland
, Georgia
, and North Carolina
. Visitors to Sierra Leone
could easily tell a Nova Scotian from other
ethnic groups because of their American accents; many of them spoke
Gullah, which is common in the Sea Islands of
Georgia and South Carolina.
The Nova Scotians were the single greatest Western influence on the
development of Freetown, Sierra Leone and their legacy remains
there till this day. Some of their descendants live in the former
Settler Town; they
comprise 7% of
Sierra Leone
Creole people.
All Nova Scotians were formerly slaves or descendants of slaves, almost all from the
newly established United
States
. The Nova Scotian settlers have been the
subject of many
social science books,
and are considered the founders of the first free
permanent African American colony in
Africa. The Nova Scotians brought 'America' to
Africa and despite being the second group of
ex-slaves to settle in Sierra Leone, they were considered the most
influential.
The "bod oses" of their modern day descendants, the Creoles, are
considered as cultural imprint of the Settlers brought from the
American South.
Background and immigration to Nova Scotia
After the
British
lost the
War of Independence, 3,000
African Americans were evacuated to
Nova
Scotia and their names were recorded in the Book of Negroes. The majority of the
settlers had been in America for two, three or four generations.
Some of the settlers were of
Native American or
European ancestry; at least fifty were born in
Africa. Many Nova Scotian blacks intermarried with
Europeans while living in Sierra Leone. The Nova Scotians'
political ideology of a democratic government was at odds with the
Sierra Leone Company's imperialistic colony. Despite referring to
themselves as the
Settlers Nova Scotians in Sierra Leone,
Afro American is what the 'Nova Scotians' really
were. The 1783 black settlers (who encompass the Nova Scotians)
were American blacks.
Life in Nova Scotia
Upon arrival in Nova Scotia, the settlers were treated as badly as
the slaves. Some of the African Americans whose slave owners were
American Loyalists were still under slavery. Their descendants
comprised the
Black Nova
Scotians, a contingent of
Black
Canadians.
In 1792, nearly 1,200 (approximately 1,192)
Black American settlers left Halifax, Nova Scotia and
immigrated to Sierra
Leone. The Settlers spoke
Gullah and
African American Vernacular
English. The Nova Scotians were the only mass group of African
Americans to immigrate to Sierra Leone under the auspices of the
British; it was decided that because of the attitude of the Nova
Scotians no other American blacks would be allowed to immigrate in
large groups to Sierra Leone.
Fifteen
ships (containing the largest fleet of blacks in history) left
Halifax
Harbour
on January 15, 1792 and arrived in Sierra Leone
between February 28-March 9, 1792.
Settler Town
Upon
reaching Sierra
Leone in 1792, the Nova Scotians founded and established
Free Town (later on when the Maroons immigrated the Settler part of
Freetown was known as Settler
Town, Sierra Leone) based upon the town of the American South, which was in close proximity
to Cline Town, Sierra Leone
or then, Granville Town. Eighty percent of Nova
Scotians lived on five streets: Rawdon, Wilberforce, Howe, East,
and Charlotte street. Seventy percent of
Maroons lived on five streets: Glouchester, George,
Trelawney, Walpole, and Westmoreland street. The main Nova Scotian
churches were in Settler Town;
Rawdon Street Methodist
Church was one of the main churches methodist churches. The
modern day
Ebenezer Methodist
Church is an offshoot of Rawdon Methodist; it was founded by
wealthy Nova Scotians. Many Nova Scotian families were forced to
sell their land because of debt; families such as the Balls, the
Burdens, the Chambers, the Dixons, the Georges (descendants of
David George), the Keelings,
the Leighs, the Moores, the Peters (descendants of
Thomas Peters), the Prestons,
the Snowballs, the Staffords, the Turners, the Willoughsby, the
Zizers, the Williams, and the Goodings. Some descendants of James
Wise and other settlers were able to keep their land in Settler
Town.
Relationship with Granville Town settlers
The Granville Town settlers (
Cline Town, Sierra Leone) were
initially separate from the Nova Scotian community. After Methodist
teaching to the Granville Town settlers, they were slowly
incorporated into the
African
Americans society of the Nova Scotians. Nova Scotians like
Boston King were schoolteachers were to the children of Granville
Town settlers. However up until 1800, the 'Old Settlers' as the
Granville Towners were called, remained in their town.
French Attack
During the French war with England, the French attacked and burned
Freetown. The Nova Scotians offered the only resistance to the
French during this time period. The settlers assured the French
they were Americans and were friends of the French. Despite showing
they were Americans, the French still carried off two Nova Scotian
boys as slaves. Zachary Macauley demanded all the supplies the Nova
Scotians had managed to take from the French back. Many a Methodist
preacher declared it was the judgment of God against their evil
caucasian oppressors. The aftermath of this resulted in Nathaniel
Snowball and Luke Jordan establishing their own colony on Pirate's
Bay to live as free men just as the 'Ezerlites.
Trade
The Nova Scotians were exceptional traders and some of the houses
they built in Settler Town, which were initially built of wood with
stone foundations, were renovated or upgraded into stone houses.
At this
time, the Nova Scotians lived in Eastern Freetown
and the Jamaican
Maroons were situated in Western Freetown. The Maroons were still distinct but became
a more solid group and adopted some Nova Scotians values and
customs.
The Maroons became a cohesive trading unit,
they displaced the Nova Scotians as the main traders in Sierra Leone in the 1820s. Nova Scotian traders such as
Cato Preston, Eli Ackim, William Easmon, and John Kizell were
forced to give up their homes because of business ventures gone
wrong. In the 1826 census about half of the Nova Scotian males were
skilled artisans and only three were listed as unskilled workers.
Initially, the Nova Scotians were allowed to use the American
currency of
dollars
and cents by the
Sierra Leone
Company; however, this changed when the company wanted to be
rid of the 'American' ways of the Settlers. Trade was opened up
with the United States in 1831, and many Nova Scotians would
eventually return to their homeland in the United States, after the
rise of the Liberated Africans.
Culture
The
Settlers had dance nights called 'Koonking' or 'Koonken' or
'Konken,' where Nova Scotian maidens would sing songs they brought
from Colonial America or songs
originating in Sierra
Leone satirizing Europeans. The majority of
Settlers spoke with a Southern dialect and one could easily tell
they were from the American South . many Nova Scotians drank
alcohol heavily and
David
George and David Edmonds kept alehouses in the 1790s. Nova
Scotian women were independent and some established schools and
acted as schoolteachers. Extramarital affairs were also prominent
in the community and many Nova Scotian men had mistresses and they
provided for their
illegitimate
children; many times they left land and property for them in
their wills.
The majority of Nova Scotians were
Methodist; a smaller minority were
Baptist. One half to two thirds of the Nova Scotians
were Methodist; the former Anglican settlers converted to Methodism
and the Methodists incorporated
Moses
Wilkinson's congregation,
Boston
King's congregation, and
Joseph
Leonard's Anglican congregation which was openly
Methodist.
British policy toward American blacks
Because of British disdain towards the Nova Scotians, the British
would no longer sanction mass immigration of African Americans.
When the Elizabeth from New York arrived with 82 African Americans,
the British did not permit them to land or settle in Freetown.
These African Americans, led by
Daniel
Coker, were offered land to settle in
Sherbro by
John Kizell an African born Nova
Scotian settler.
After the terrible conditions for the
settlers at Sherbro, they were moved to land in the Grain Coast
; the African Americans who moved there in 1820 were
the first settlers of what would be Liberia
. No other blacks from Nova Scotia were ever
brought to Freetown under the auspices of the
Sierra Leone Company.
Relationship with Black Nova Scotians and African
Americans
The enslaved Africans of
Colonial
America who joined the British became
Black British.
However the Africans who remained in what
became the United States of America
became African
Americans. The Nova Scotian settlers bore children
during their nine year tenure in Nova Scotia; these children called themselves Black Nova Scotians but retained many
cultural habits similar to African
Americans. The descendants of the Nova Scotian settlers
(who make up a small percent of the
Sierra Leone Creole people) are
the related to both Black Nova Scotians and
African Americans.
Notable Nova Scotian settlers
Descendants of the settlers
See also
References
- http://www.blackloyalist.com/canadiandigitalcollection/
External links
- http://blackloyalist.com/canadiandigitalcollection/
- http://atlanticportal.hil.unb.ca/dev/acva/blackloyalists/
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