WEBVTT - Who Were the Black Loyalists of the American Revolution?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren fog Obam here. The story of the Black Loyalists

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<v Speaker 1>to Britain during the American Revolution is the story of

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<v Speaker 1>a people stolen into slavery who fought for their freedom,

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<v Speaker 1>exacted revenge h on cruel self proclaimed owners, and established

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<v Speaker 1>one of the first free black settlements on the continent.

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<v Speaker 1>It's also a story of broken promises, a racial discord,

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<v Speaker 1>and the lengths to which people will go to find

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<v Speaker 1>a better life. And it's a nearly forgotten chapter in

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<v Speaker 1>North American history. When the American colonies declared independence in

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen seventy six, enslaved Africans and their descendants made up

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<v Speaker 1>twenty percent of the colonial population. The population of South

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<v Speaker 1>Carolina was sixty enslaved people, and Virginia was due to

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<v Speaker 1>the large plantations in those states, though slavery was not

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<v Speaker 1>just a Southern institution. In some northern cities like Boston,

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<v Speaker 1>and enslaved people made up twenty percent of the population.

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<v Speaker 1>Even before the War for Independence officially began, the British

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<v Speaker 1>tried to recruit the enslaved to rise up and fight

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<v Speaker 1>against their rebel plantation owners. Loyalist was the term given

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<v Speaker 1>to people who still supported Britain in the American colonies.

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<v Speaker 1>In seventeen seventy five, the British Royal Governor of Virginia,

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<v Speaker 1>Lord Dunmore, issued a stunning emancipation proclamation, promising freedom and

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<v Speaker 1>land to all enslaved people who would take up arms

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<v Speaker 1>against their rebel masters. Dunmore was looking for manpower to

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<v Speaker 1>put down an armed rebellion in Virginia, and he found it.

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<v Speaker 1>Between eight hundred and two thousand enslaved people and indentured

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<v Speaker 1>servants fled their plantations and joined with the British, including

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<v Speaker 1>a hard fighting militia that would become known as Dunmore's

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<v Speaker 1>Ethiopian Regiment. This militia marched to battle in uniforms inscribed

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<v Speaker 1>with the insignia Liberty to Slaves. Dun Moore's proclamation was

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<v Speaker 1>quote the first mass emancipation in American history. That's according

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<v Speaker 1>to one Isaac Saaney, a history professor at St. Mary's

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<v Speaker 1>University in Nova Scotia. It happened nearly ninety years before

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<v Speaker 1>Abraham Lincoln signed the US Emancipation Proclamation, which ended slavery

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<v Speaker 1>in areas not under the control of the United States government.

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<v Speaker 1>When the tides turned against the British in seventeen seventy nine,

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<v Speaker 1>they issued a second emancipation called the Phillipsburg Proclamation, which

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<v Speaker 1>extended the promise of freedom and land to any enslaved

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<v Speaker 1>person who would cross the British lines without the requirement

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<v Speaker 1>to fight. The move was a form of economic warfare

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<v Speaker 1>against the colonies, Saney said. Escaping Africans would weaken the

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<v Speaker 1>rebel economy. You'd have this mass emancipation taking place, and

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<v Speaker 1>the colonists would now have to expend resources to guard

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<v Speaker 1>the plantations instead of using them in battle. An estimated

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<v Speaker 1>twelve thousand emancipated people fought for the British, but the

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<v Speaker 1>war was lost when the British surrendered in seventeen eighty three.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the central points of contention, Saaney says, was

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<v Speaker 1>quote the return of what George Washington deems us property,

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<v Speaker 1>which are the enslaved Africans. The British commander in Chief,

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<v Speaker 1>Guy Carlton, kept his word and negotiated certificates of freedom

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<v Speaker 1>for all so called black loyalists who had joined the

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<v Speaker 1>British ranks before the surrender. Under one condition, they had

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<v Speaker 1>to leave the country. Carlaton's men carefully recorded the names

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<v Speaker 1>of three thousand newly freed men and women in what's

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<v Speaker 1>known as the Book of Negroes, which was an accepted

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<v Speaker 1>term for black people at that time. The freedmen were

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<v Speaker 1>then put on ships heading to Nova Scotia, which was

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<v Speaker 1>a British ruled Canadian province, but Nova Scotia in the

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<v Speaker 1>late seventeen hundreds was sometimes known as Nova Scarcity. In sight.

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<v Speaker 1>Three forty thousand loyalists, both black and white, fled to

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<v Speaker 1>Nova Scotia, including one thousand and two hundred and thirty

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<v Speaker 1>two black people who were still enslaved by white loyalists.

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<v Speaker 1>All of these people tripled the native population and completely

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<v Speaker 1>overwhelmed the province's meager resources. The newly freed black loyalists,

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<v Speaker 1>far from receiving their just rewards in a new home,

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<v Speaker 1>found themselves last in line for land and exploited as

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<v Speaker 1>cheap labor. Widespread poverty and underemployment across Nova Scotia brewed

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<v Speaker 1>ugly discontent among white people, some of whom blamed the

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<v Speaker 1>black laborers for working for two little pay and thus

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<v Speaker 1>stealing their jobs. Racial tensions erupted into violence in four,

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<v Speaker 1>when a black preacher by the name of David George

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<v Speaker 1>baptized a white woman. The riots and massacres raged for months,

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<v Speaker 1>claiming many black homes and lives, until troops were finally

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<v Speaker 1>sent in from the capital, Halifax. The Black loyalists repeatedly

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<v Speaker 1>petitioned the crown to keep its promises from the war,

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<v Speaker 1>eventually sending the emissary Thomas Peters, all the way to

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<v Speaker 1>London to make the case in person. Peter's got nowhere

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<v Speaker 1>with royal officials, but did meet with a group of

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<v Speaker 1>British abolitionists who were launching a social experiment in Sierra Leone,

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<v Speaker 1>West Africa, a sanctuary for victims of the slave trade.

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<v Speaker 1>They convinced Peters that the best place for the emancipated

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<v Speaker 1>people was back in Africa. In fifteen, ships sailed from

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<v Speaker 1>Halifax Harbor in Nova Scotia to Sierra Leone carrying one thousand,

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<v Speaker 1>one d and ninety six Black loyalists, who had Sandy

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<v Speaker 1>said quote voted with their feet against broken promises of

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<v Speaker 1>land and freedom. Sandy calls it the maiden voyage of

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<v Speaker 1>the Back to Africa movement. Those who stayed behind in

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<v Speaker 1>Nova Scotia largely settled in the village of birch Town,

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<v Speaker 1>named for Samuel Birch, one of the British generals who

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<v Speaker 1>signed the original Certificates of Freedom. Today, Jason Farmer is

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<v Speaker 1>a ninth generation descendant of the Black Loyalists who first

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<v Speaker 1>settled birch Town. Farmer can traces roots back to Jupiter Farmer,

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<v Speaker 1>an enslaved person who escaped from Brunswick, New Jersey. Jupiter

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<v Speaker 1>married a woman named Venus Yes and established a continuous

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<v Speaker 1>line of the Farmer family that's remained in the Birchtown

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<v Speaker 1>area for more than two hundred and thirty years. Farmer

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<v Speaker 1>is an interpreter at the Black Loyalist Heritage Center and

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<v Speaker 1>Historical Site in Nova Scotia, where he's proud to share

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<v Speaker 1>the remarkable story of his ancestors who dared to escape

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<v Speaker 1>the plantations and join with an occupying army to win

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<v Speaker 1>their freedom, only to continue to fight for true freedom

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<v Speaker 1>and equality in a new land. The Farmer said, it's

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<v Speaker 1>an unknown history right here in Nova Scotia. They're amazed.

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<v Speaker 1>It's powerful. Some of them can't even sit there and

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<v Speaker 1>listen to it. All. They have to take breaks, some

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<v Speaker 1>of them cry. Some twenty thousand black people live in

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<v Speaker 1>Nova Scotia today, most of whom are descended from the

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<v Speaker 1>Black Loyalists the same He says that the legacy of

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<v Speaker 1>the Black Loyalists is of a persecuted people exercising black agency.

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<v Speaker 1>He said, these are people who took their fate and

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<v Speaker 1>their destiny into their own hands. Just to get to

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<v Speaker 1>the British side took a lot of courage, skill and ingenuity.

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<v Speaker 1>The fact that so many of them chose to fight

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<v Speaker 1>and saw themselves is not only defending their freedom, but

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<v Speaker 1>participating in the liberation of others, speaks to the breadth

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<v Speaker 1>and depth of their conception of agency, but also as

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<v Speaker 1>part of a collective struggle for freedom. Today's episode was

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<v Speaker 1>written by Dave Ruse and produced by Tyler Klang. For

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<v Speaker 1>more on this and lots of other topics, visit how

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of I

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