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The ''Book of Negroes'' is a document created by
Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointe ...
Samuel Birch, under the direction of
Sir Guy Carleton Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester (3 September 1724 – 10 November 1808), known between 1776 and 1786 as Sir Guy Carleton, was an Anglo-Irish soldier and administrator. He twice served as Governor of the Province of Quebec, from 1768 to 177 ...
, that records names and descriptions of 3,000
Black Loyalist Black Loyalists were people of African descent who sided with the Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. In particular, the term refers to men who escaped enslavement by Patriot masters and served on the Loyalist side because of the C ...
s, enslaved Africans who escaped to the British lines during the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
and were evacuated to points in
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
as
free people of colour In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...
.


Background

The first African person in Nova Scotia arrived with the founding of
Port Royal Port Royal is a village located at the end of the Palisadoes, at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest city in the Caribbean, functioning as the centre of shipping and ...
in 1605. African people were then brought as slaves to Nova Scotia during the founding of
Louisbourg Louisbourg is an unincorporated community and former town in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. History The French military founded the Fortress of Louisbourg in 1713 and its fortified seaport on the southwest part of the harbour ...
and Halifax. The first major migration of African people to Nova Scotia happened during the American Revolution. Enslaved Africans in America who escaped to the British during the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
became the first settlement of Black Nova Scotians and
Black Canadians Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though ...
. Other Black Loyalists were transported to settlements in several islands in the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
and some to
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. Recorded in 1783, this 150-page document is the only one to have recorded Black Canadians in a large, detailed scope of work.


Contents

The document contains records on 3000 Africans; the former slaves recorded in the ''Book of Negroes'' were evacuated to
British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestow ...
, where they were settled in the newly established Birchtown and other places in the colony. According to the
Treaty of Paris (1783) The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of America on September 3, 1783, officially ended the American Revolutionary War and overall state of conflict ...
, the United States argued for the return of all property, including slaves. The British refused to return the slaves, to whom they had promised freedom during the war for joining their cause. The detailed records were created to document the freed people whom the British resettled in Nova Scotia, along with other Loyalists. The book was assembled by Samuel Birch, the namesake of Birchtown, Nova Scotia, under the direction of
Sir Guy Carleton Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester (3 September 1724 – 10 November 1808), known between 1776 and 1786 as Sir Guy Carleton, was an Anglo-Irish soldier and administrator. He twice served as Governor of the Province of Quebec, from 1768 to 177 ...
. Some freedmen later migrated from Nova Scotia to
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...
, where they formed the original settlers of Freetown, Sierra Leone, Freetown, under the auspices of the
Sierra Leone Company The Sierra Leone Company was the corporate body involved in founding the second British colony in Africa on 11 March 1792 through the resettlement of Black Loyalists who had initially been settled in Nova Scotia (the Nova Scotian Settlers) aft ...
. They are among the ancestors of the Sierra Leone Creole ethnic group. Notable people recorded in the ''Book of Negroes'' include
Boston King Boston King ( 1760–1802) was a former American slave and Black Loyalist, who gained freedom from the British and settled in Nova Scotia after the American Revolutionary War. He later immigrated to Sierra Leone, where he helped found Freetown and b ...
, Henry Washington,
Moses Wilkinson Moses "Daddy Moses" Wilkinson or "Old Moses" (c. 1746/47 Wilkinson's entry in the Book of Negroes gives his age as 36. – ?) was an American Wesleyan Methodist preacher and Black Loyalist. His ministry combined Old Testament divination with ...
and
Cato Perkins Cato Perkins was an African-American slave from Charleston, South Carolina who became a missionary to Sierra Leone. He was enslaved by John Perkins. Cato Perkins self-emancipated by joining the British during the Siege of Charleston and he joined ...
. As the ''Book of Negroes'' was recorded separately by American and British officers, there are two versions of the document. The British version is held in
The National Archives National archives are central archives maintained by countries. This article contains a list of national archives. Among its more important tasks are to ensure the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both ...
in Kew, London The American version is held by the
National Archives and Records Administration The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...
in Washington, D.C. It was published under the title ''The Black Loyalist Directory: African Americans in Exile After the American Revolution'' (1996), edited by Graham Russell Hodges, Susan Hawkes Cook, and Alan Edward Brown.


Representation in other media

The Canadian novelist Lawrence Hill wrote '' The Book of Negroes'' (2007, published in the United States as ''Someone Knows My Name''). It is inspired by the African Americans who were resettled in Nova Scotia, and some of them who later chose to go to
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...
, where they created a colony of freedmen in Africa. He features Aminata Diallo, a young African woman captured as a child; she is literate and acts as a scribe to record the information about the former slaves. The book won the top 2008
Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...
. Canadian director Clement Virgo adapted the book into a six-hour television mini-series of the same title. The series premiered on CBC in Canada on 7 January 2015 and on BET in the United States on 16 February 2015 and starred Aunjanue Ellis,
Lyriq Bent Lyriq Bent (born January 3, 1979) is a Jamaican-Canadian actor. He is known for his roles in the ''Saw'' films, the television series '' Rookie Blue'', and '' The Book of Negroes''. Bent portrays Jamie Overstreet in the Netflix series ''She's G ...
, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Louis Gossett Jr.Tambay A. Obenson
"First Trailer for Mini-Series Adaptation of Acclaimed 'The Book of Negroes' Surfaces"
, IndieWire, 24 June 2014.


See also

* Black Nova Scotians *'' Rough Crossings'' (subtitle: ''Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution''), a history book and television series by
Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama (; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian specialising in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He fi ...


Notes


External links


"''The Book of Negroes''"
''African Nova Scotians: in the Age of Slavery and Abolition'', Nova Scotia Archives

''Remembering Black Loyalists, Black Communities in Nova Scotia'', 2001, Noval Scotia Museum *Cassandra Pybus
''Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution and Their Global Quest for Liberty''
(Boston: Beacon Press, 2006).

Canadian Digital Collections, website includes link to ''Book of Negroes''
African Nova Scotians in the Age of Slavery and Abolition
(Digitized version of the British copy)
Inspection Roll of Negroes Book No. 2
(Digitized version of the American copy.)
''Carleton Papers – Book of Negroes, 1783''
(Library and Archives Canada). Searchable database of the ''Book of Negroes''. *Hodges, Graham R. ''The Black Loyalist Directory: African Americans in Exile After the American Revolution''. New York: Garland Pub. in association with the New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1996. Print version of the American copy. {{Slave narrative 1783 documents African-American documents African-American slave records African-American genealogy Black Loyalists History of Black people in Canada Sierra Leone Creole history books Krio genealogy Collection of The National Archives (United Kingdom) Fugitive American slaves American expatriates in Canada