JK Production Publication
Jamaican American Club Newsletter www.JamaicanAmericanClub.org
Spring 2016
FORGOTTEN BRANCH OF BLACK COMMUNITY PERSEVERES By Charles R. Saunders
In the eastern Canadian province of Nova Scotia, an unsung branch of the black diaspora persists. The history of the black Nova Scotian community is a singular story of survival that is all-toooften overlooked. It shouldn’t be; it involves not only one small province, but also two continents. People of African descent have been part of Nova Scotia’s history since the beginning of European exploration and colonization – and, perhaps, before that. A black man named Mathieu Da Costa was part of a 1608
Trivia Name these Jamaican fruits: Answers are on page 6.
French expedition. Da Costa served as an interpreter between the French and local Mi’kmaq people. His knowledge of the Mi’kmaqs’ language suggests that he had prior experience among them. The first major presence of blacks in the region came in the wake of the American Revolution. Lord Dunmore, royal governor of Virginia, offered freedom to African slaves who joined the British in their battle to suppress the rebellious American colonists. Blacks were faced with a choice between rebels who desired freedom for themselves but not their slaves; and a colonial power that
promised freedom for the slaves. Many blacks chose to join the British before the Americans belatedly promised freedom to slaves who fought for the rebellion. After the British lost the war in 1783, they resettled most of the blacks who had fought for their cause in Nova Scotia – which had opted out of the revolution. About 3,500 Black Loyalists, as they were called, migrated northward – along with 1,200 slaves held by Loyalist whites who had also fled the newborn United States.
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Table of contents
FORGOTTEN BRANCH OF BLACK COMMUNITY PERSEVERES page 1
Trivia Page 1
RELIGION: AN AID OR HINDRANCE TO SPIRITUAL FULFILMENT? Page 2