1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:07,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: Lauren fog Obam here. The story of the Black Loyalists 3 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 1: to Britain during the American Revolution is the story of 4 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: a people stolen into slavery who fought for their freedom, 5 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:21,840 Speaker 1: exacted revenge h on cruel self proclaimed owners, and established 6 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:24,640 Speaker 1: one of the first free black settlements on the continent. 7 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:28,640 Speaker 1: It's also a story of broken promises, a racial discord, 8 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 1: and the lengths to which people will go to find 9 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:34,080 Speaker 1: a better life. And it's a nearly forgotten chapter in 10 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: North American history. When the American colonies declared independence in 11 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:43,479 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy six, enslaved Africans and their descendants made up 12 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:47,280 Speaker 1: twenty percent of the colonial population. The population of South 13 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: Carolina was sixty enslaved people, and Virginia was due to 14 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: the large plantations in those states, though slavery was not 15 00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: just a Southern institution. In some northern cities like Boston, 16 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: and enslaved people made up twenty percent of the population. 17 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,800 Speaker 1: Even before the War for Independence officially began, the British 18 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 1: tried to recruit the enslaved to rise up and fight 19 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: against their rebel plantation owners. Loyalist was the term given 20 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,360 Speaker 1: to people who still supported Britain in the American colonies. 21 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:23,040 Speaker 1: In seventeen seventy five, the British Royal Governor of Virginia, 22 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:28,319 Speaker 1: Lord Dunmore, issued a stunning emancipation proclamation, promising freedom and 23 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: land to all enslaved people who would take up arms 24 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 1: against their rebel masters. Dunmore was looking for manpower to 25 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: put down an armed rebellion in Virginia, and he found it. 26 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 1: Between eight hundred and two thousand enslaved people and indentured 27 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:47,400 Speaker 1: servants fled their plantations and joined with the British, including 28 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 1: a hard fighting militia that would become known as Dunmore's 29 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:55,400 Speaker 1: Ethiopian Regiment. This militia marched to battle in uniforms inscribed 30 00:01:55,400 --> 00:02:00,880 Speaker 1: with the insignia Liberty to Slaves. Dun Moore's proclamation was 31 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: quote the first mass emancipation in American history. That's according 32 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,800 Speaker 1: to one Isaac Saaney, a history professor at St. Mary's 33 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: University in Nova Scotia. It happened nearly ninety years before 34 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln signed the US Emancipation Proclamation, which ended slavery 35 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:20,920 Speaker 1: in areas not under the control of the United States government. 36 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:25,800 Speaker 1: When the tides turned against the British in seventeen seventy nine, 37 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: they issued a second emancipation called the Phillipsburg Proclamation, which 38 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:33,239 Speaker 1: extended the promise of freedom and land to any enslaved 39 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:36,400 Speaker 1: person who would cross the British lines without the requirement 40 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 1: to fight. The move was a form of economic warfare 41 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:44,360 Speaker 1: against the colonies, Saney said. Escaping Africans would weaken the 42 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: rebel economy. You'd have this mass emancipation taking place, and 43 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 1: the colonists would now have to expend resources to guard 44 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:56,239 Speaker 1: the plantations instead of using them in battle. An estimated 45 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:59,800 Speaker 1: twelve thousand emancipated people fought for the British, but the 46 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,000 Speaker 1: war was lost when the British surrendered in seventeen eighty three. 47 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: One of the central points of contention, Saaney says, was 48 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:11,119 Speaker 1: quote the return of what George Washington deems us property, 49 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:16,360 Speaker 1: which are the enslaved Africans. The British commander in Chief, 50 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:20,480 Speaker 1: Guy Carlton, kept his word and negotiated certificates of freedom 51 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:23,640 Speaker 1: for all so called black loyalists who had joined the 52 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:27,960 Speaker 1: British ranks before the surrender. Under one condition, they had 53 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: to leave the country. Carlaton's men carefully recorded the names 54 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: of three thousand newly freed men and women in what's 55 00:03:35,440 --> 00:03:38,440 Speaker 1: known as the Book of Negroes, which was an accepted 56 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 1: term for black people at that time. The freedmen were 57 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 1: then put on ships heading to Nova Scotia, which was 58 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: a British ruled Canadian province, but Nova Scotia in the 59 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 1: late seventeen hundreds was sometimes known as Nova Scarcity. In sight. 60 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:58,000 Speaker 1: Three forty thousand loyalists, both black and white, fled to 61 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 1: Nova Scotia, including one thousand and two hundred and thirty 62 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: two black people who were still enslaved by white loyalists. 63 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: All of these people tripled the native population and completely 64 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:14,000 Speaker 1: overwhelmed the province's meager resources. The newly freed black loyalists, 65 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:16,720 Speaker 1: far from receiving their just rewards in a new home, 66 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:20,640 Speaker 1: found themselves last in line for land and exploited as 67 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:26,480 Speaker 1: cheap labor. Widespread poverty and underemployment across Nova Scotia brewed 68 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 1: ugly discontent among white people, some of whom blamed the 69 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,240 Speaker 1: black laborers for working for two little pay and thus 70 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:38,640 Speaker 1: stealing their jobs. Racial tensions erupted into violence in four, 71 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:41,160 Speaker 1: when a black preacher by the name of David George 72 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:45,799 Speaker 1: baptized a white woman. The riots and massacres raged for months, 73 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:49,240 Speaker 1: claiming many black homes and lives, until troops were finally 74 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:54,159 Speaker 1: sent in from the capital, Halifax. The Black loyalists repeatedly 75 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:56,800 Speaker 1: petitioned the crown to keep its promises from the war, 76 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: eventually sending the emissary Thomas Peters, all the way to 77 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:03,960 Speaker 1: London to make the case in person. Peter's got nowhere 78 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:06,479 Speaker 1: with royal officials, but did meet with a group of 79 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:10,679 Speaker 1: British abolitionists who were launching a social experiment in Sierra Leone, 80 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: West Africa, a sanctuary for victims of the slave trade. 81 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:18,120 Speaker 1: They convinced Peters that the best place for the emancipated 82 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:24,160 Speaker 1: people was back in Africa. In fifteen, ships sailed from 83 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:28,279 Speaker 1: Halifax Harbor in Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone carrying one thousand, 84 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:31,719 Speaker 1: one d and ninety six Black loyalists, who had Sandy 85 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: said quote voted with their feet against broken promises of 86 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:39,479 Speaker 1: land and freedom. Sandy calls it the maiden voyage of 87 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,919 Speaker 1: the Back to Africa movement. Those who stayed behind in 88 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,919 Speaker 1: Nova Scotia largely settled in the village of birch Town, 89 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 1: named for Samuel Birch, one of the British generals who 90 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 1: signed the original Certificates of Freedom. Today, Jason Farmer is 91 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:57,520 Speaker 1: a ninth generation descendant of the Black Loyalists who first 92 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: settled birch Town. Farmer can traces roots back to Jupiter Farmer, 93 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: an enslaved person who escaped from Brunswick, New Jersey. Jupiter 94 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: married a woman named Venus Yes and established a continuous 95 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:12,480 Speaker 1: line of the Farmer family that's remained in the Birchtown 96 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:16,560 Speaker 1: area for more than two hundred and thirty years. Farmer 97 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: is an interpreter at the Black Loyalist Heritage Center and 98 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:22,479 Speaker 1: Historical Site in Nova Scotia, where he's proud to share 99 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:25,599 Speaker 1: the remarkable story of his ancestors who dared to escape 100 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:28,480 Speaker 1: the plantations and join with an occupying army to win 101 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:31,840 Speaker 1: their freedom, only to continue to fight for true freedom 102 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,920 Speaker 1: and equality in a new land. The Farmer said, it's 103 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:39,360 Speaker 1: an unknown history right here in Nova Scotia. They're amazed. 104 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:42,159 Speaker 1: It's powerful. Some of them can't even sit there and 105 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:44,480 Speaker 1: listen to it. All. They have to take breaks, some 106 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:48,960 Speaker 1: of them cry. Some twenty thousand black people live in 107 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:52,000 Speaker 1: Nova Scotia today, most of whom are descended from the 108 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 1: Black Loyalists the same He says that the legacy of 109 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:59,599 Speaker 1: the Black Loyalists is of a persecuted people exercising black agency. 110 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:03,359 Speaker 1: He said, these are people who took their fate and 111 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:06,279 Speaker 1: their destiny into their own hands. Just to get to 112 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:09,400 Speaker 1: the British side took a lot of courage, skill and ingenuity. 113 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: The fact that so many of them chose to fight 114 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:15,440 Speaker 1: and saw themselves is not only defending their freedom, but 115 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: participating in the liberation of others, speaks to the breadth 116 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,920 Speaker 1: and depth of their conception of agency, but also as 117 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: part of a collective struggle for freedom. Today's episode was 118 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 1: written by Dave Ruse and produced by Tyler Klang. For 119 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 1: more on this and lots of other topics, visit how 120 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: Stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of I 121 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:41,080 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the 122 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:43,840 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 123 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:44,720 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.