WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Black Loyalists 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:08.480 Hey there, ho there, Hi again. This is Josh, there's Chuck, 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:11.440 there's Jerry. You put us together. You give us like 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:15.120 a twelve minute time limit, maybe less. It's short stuff 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:20.240 the podcast. That's a short term version of stuff you 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:22.759 should know, which is also a podcast, but it's a 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:25.360 longer version of short stuff. I guess you could say. 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:27.960 That's right. And as per tradition, you started off the 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:32.559 show by saying, hey, there, ho there, Right, you want 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:35.599 to talk about black loyalists? I do, man, So you 0:00:35.640 --> 0:00:39.440 pick this one, Hats off to you, try cornered hat 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:43.520 with a big old Yankee doodle feather off to you. Um, 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:46.879 because I've never heard anything about this, and I majored 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:49.839 in history colonial history, and I didn't even pick up 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:53.000 on this one. Yeah, so this is uh this. We 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:56.680 did a regular long form episode for Black History Month 0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:01.040 on Tuskegee Airmen, and now we're doing a shorty version 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:04.440 for the Black Loyalists for Black History Month. And it 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:07.360 goes a little something like this one and the two. 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:14.080 So the Black loyalists, Chuck, yes, are in a very 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:18.920 much overlooked um group in American history. And they were 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:25.200 African Americans, or I guess African African slaves who lived 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:28.440 in the colonies. Uh, some of whom were free too, 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:34.760 but mostly were slaves that ended up fighting for Great 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:40.600 Britain in the American Revolutionary War. Yeah, so it's important 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:42.520 to kind of set the stage here. What's going on 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:48.880 in seventeen seventy six, Um, African slaves were all over 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:51.840 the place, and well, not all over the place, but 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:55.919 you know, basically east of the Mississippi River at this point. 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:59.400 Um Or am I wrong about that? No? No, you're right. 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:01.800 I was gonna I was gonna support you, like a 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:05.040 lot of people think, well, yes, slavery was just southern, no, man, 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:08.360 and the colony. Slavery was everywhere, and slaves made up 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:12.800 of the population. In some states they were more concentrated 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.000 than in other states. And I think they might have 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:18.240 never been in Rhode Island or Pennsylvania. I'm not sure, 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:20.560 but they You could find states in the North as 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:23.400 well as the South at the time, for sure, because 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:26.960 the South was a lot of the commerce was based 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:29.680 on the plantation model. Obviously a lot more slaves in 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:32.960 the South, to the tune of like fort in Virginia. 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:37.600 South Carolina was sixty percent slaves, but even up in Boston, 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:43.440 slaves made up of the population. So before the War 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:46.840 for Independence even started, there was an effort by the 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:52.720 British to get American slaves on their side and basically say, hey, 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:56.480 be a loyalist and take up arms against your plantation 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:00.080 owner and we will grant you freedom. Yep. Not only 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:01.840 are we gonna grant you freedom, we're going to give 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:07.680 you some land after we uh kick the rebels. Butts uh. Yeah. 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:10.639 There was a governor, the British Royal Governor of Virginia, 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:15.880 Lord Dunmore, said this was sort of the first um, 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:19.520 I guess, the first emancipation proclamation where he said, you know, 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:23.560 you guys can be free take up arms against your oppressors. 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:27.440 Because they were looking for for people to fight, Like 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:29.960 every time this happened a couple of times, it's because 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:32.799 they needed men to fight on their side. It wasn't 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:35.320 I mean, I wish it was just some altruistic move, 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:37.480 but it was like we need feed on the ground 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:42.680 with guns. Right. That first proclamation by dunn More was 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:48.000 was um I guess, proclaimed before the Declaration of Independence 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:51.680 was ever signed. This is yeah, this is while the 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:54.560 rebellion is just starting up and it's kind of isolated 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:57.920 and sporadic. And there was an armed rebellion in Virginia 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:00.720 that done more the governor of Virginia it was trying 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:03.520 to put down. And so that's why he said, you 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:06.440 come fight for us, Rise up against your um, your 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:11.360 plantation owners, and the the the what were the guys 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:15.600 who like the overseers, You rise up against these guys, 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:19.320 the rebels, we will we will give you your freedom. 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:21.320 And I mean, at this point, it's not even clear 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:25.120 that the colonies are going to form an armed, um 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:29.560 organized revolt like the Revolutionary War. So it just seemed 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:34.280 like this was a rebellion, local rebellion that needed putting down. Yeah, 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:37.159 and they even, uh, I believe between about eight hundred 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:41.919 and two thousand slaves and servants, uh, indentured servants fled 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:45.320 their plantations, took up arms. That was one regiment named 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:49.880 dun Moore's Ethiopian Regiment, which had a on their uniform 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:54.040 the insignia Liberty to Slaves, which is pretty cool. Uh. 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:57.080 And this was, like I said, the first big mass 0:04:57.080 --> 0:05:02.719 emancipation um close a hundred years before Abraham Lincoln signed 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:06.040 the official Emancipation Proclamation. Yeah, and what was cool about 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.000 it was these these um, the slaves who took up 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:12.919 the British offer. Um, We're not just like fighting for 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:17.000 their own freedom. They were fighting to free the slaves 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:20.840 who were you know, left behind. It was really um. 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:23.080 It was pretty cool. I had not heard about the 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:28.760 Ethiopian regiment before, but um. As the as the American 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:32.360 Revolution goes into full swing and by uh, I think 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:36.080 seventeen seventy nine, when the tide is turning against the British, 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:40.720 the British released a second Emancipation Proclamation and said, hey, 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:45.719 if you just leave and come over to British held territory, 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:48.960 we'll we'll you'll be free. You don't even have to fight, 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:53.719 which is this is a cool idea because this this 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:56.200 basically was like they think they can get more people 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:57.800 to do that if they don't think they have to fight. 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:01.880 And what it does is is it leaks all these 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:05.720 workers from the plantations. And then in order to guard 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:09.480 their plantations, now the plantation owners had to you know, 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:11.640 use people that would have been fighting in the war 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:14.400 to stay at home and guard that plantation. So it 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:18.680 was it was known as economic warfare basically, right, which 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:22.520 is pretty smart. And for the African slaves who took 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:26.160 them up on their offer. There was win win for them, 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:30.880 so um, I think a total of twelve thousand African 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:36.560 descended slaves fought for the British during the Revolutionary War, 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.280 and at the end of the war um which the 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:43.480 American colonies won, there was a there was a problem 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:45.600 because I mean, it wasn't like the Brits were like, 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:48.359 all right, fine, we're going home. There was a negotiated treaty, 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:51.680 like there was an end to hostilities. The there was. 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:55.120 It was like a formal war, and in formal wars, 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.840 things come up, things happen in war that um need 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.279 to be settled. After the war, one of the main 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:05.560 points of contention was the status of the African slaves 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:09.000 who had defected or just gone over to the British 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:12.520 side and said, hey, we're here to fight. What was 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:14.640 to be done with them? And the Brits could have 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:17.400 very easily been like, ha ha, suckers, we're not We're 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:19.800 not gonna keep our word on any of this. But 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:21.800 they didn't do that. They didn't keep their word on 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:23.960 all of it, but they kept their word on some 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:26.240 of it. And let's just take a quick break Chuck, 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:28.040 and we'll come back and fill everybody in on the 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:50.640 rest of the details. All right, So when we left 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:55.240 the war is over. George Washington is negotiated to have 0:07:56.240 --> 0:08:00.280 quote unquote US property return, which included these enslaved Africa ends. 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:02.920 And on the other side you have a commander in 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:05.600 chief named Guy Carlton who said, well, you know, we 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:08.960 gave our word and negotiated these certificates of freedom for 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:12.520 these loyalists. Um, but here's what we're gonna do everyone. Uh, 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:16.120 we I think you need to leave the country, and 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:20.040 we think you should go to Nova Scotia, which is 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:23.600 a province in Canada that we rule. And I'm sure 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:26.480 they were like Nova Scotia, this is not what I 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.960 signed up for, um, But they went there anyway. And 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:33.080 in the eighteenth century, in the late eighteenth century, forty 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:39.200 thousand uh loyalists, both white and black went to Nova Scotia, um, 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:43.840 including more than twelve slaves of these white loyalists, And 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:46.920 all of a sudden, Nova Scotia was like, we don't 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:49.800 have resources for all these people. It was called Nova 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:55.959 scarcity at the time, which I'm guessing you knew, yes, So, um, 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:58.040 this is kind of a big problem, Chuck, because the 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:00.960 population of Nova Scotia at the time was like like 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:04.480 maybe twelve or something thirteen thousand people and all of 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:10.640 a sudden showed up. And when that happens, just common 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:16.280 economics means that you have a really really big labor 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:21.240 supply and probably not very not nearly enough demand. And 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:25.240 so when that happens, people start to fight with one another. Yeah, 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:27.640 and you know, uh, like you would imagine even in 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:31.000 Nova Scotia, these um new arrivals were kind of kicked 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:35.920 to the back of the line and things got tents. Uh. Finally, 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:38.280 at one point there was a black creature named David 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:43.360 George baptize a white woman and that sparked what people 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:46.199 basically say is the first race riot in North America. 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:51.720 In yeah, the Shelburne Riot. Um, the white showed up 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:56.880 and they beat David George pretty bad. They went through 0:09:56.920 --> 0:10:02.120 the Shelburne Settlement, which is largely UM African uh freed 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:06.839 slaves and literally pulled their houses over, just trash the place. 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:09.680 And this riot went on for months and it was 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:14.480 it sounds pretty familiar. It's you're you're you're selling your 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:17.080 labor for too cheap and stealing our jobs. So we're 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:19.679 going to take all of our ankst out on you. 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:25.640 So the riot was finally put down Um when troops 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:28.200 came in from Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, and 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:33.119 restored order. But by this point, Um the Black loyalists 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:35.839 who had been promised not just freedom but remember land 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:38.480 and are now ending up in Nova Scotia where things 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:41.439 are really really tense. They're like, we've got to We've 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:43.280 got to get the crown to do something about this. 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:46.880 So they sent a guy named Um Thomas Peters to 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:50.520 go petition the crown in London or Parliament, at least 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:54.280 one of them, and Um say, hey, you know, can 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:56.800 we get our land now? We we did everything we 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.680 were asked of and uh, he didn't get anywhere with 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:02.600 the Crown at least no. They they said, well, we've 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:06.080 got another idea. We've got this, Uh, we've got this 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:09.640 area in West Africa and Sierra Leone, and what we 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:12.440 think is a good idea is to make this like 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:16.000 a sanctuary for for you folks, and we can send 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:18.920 you over there and it'll be great. You're gonna love it. 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:21.520 That's the best place for freed slaves to be back 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:26.880 in Africa. Uh, it became basically in se when fifteen 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:30.440 ships sailed from Halifax Harbor, the very first voyage of 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.640 the Back to Africa movement. And there were some that 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:36.720 um stayed back in Nova Scotia and they settled a 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:40.640 place called Birch Town named after Samuel Birch. But a 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:44.880 lot of them left and went to Sierra Leone, and um, 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:47.880 that was sort of the you know, the end dish 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:50.680 of that story. The cool thing is is you can 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:54.600 still trace. Uh, there are twenty thousand black people living 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:57.000 in Nova Scotia today and you can trace a lot 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.959 of those back to these Black Loyalists. Yeah, there's one 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:02.560 guy that shows up in this article named Jason Farmer. 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:06.080 He's a ninth generation descendant of a Black loyalist named 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:09.880 Jupiter Farmer, and Jupiter married a woman named Venus if 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:12.600 you can believe that, and his family has been living 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:16.719 in Birchtown for about two d and thirty years. Yeah, 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:19.120 it's pretty cool. He works at the Black Loyalist Heritage 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:21.480 Center and Historical site, and he said a lot of 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:25.480 people in Nova Scotia, even descendants, don't even realize that 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:27.680 this is their history. And so when I tell the story. 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:31.000 He said. It's it's pretty powerful stuff. Yeah. Well, good 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:34.000 pick Chuck. I'm glad we did this one. Yeah. Uh. 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:36.160 If you want to know more about black loyalists, go 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:38.400 check it out on the internet and send us an email. 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:57.200 In the meantime to Stuff podcast how Stuff works dot com.