Black History Month 2025
Hello members!
In case you’ve missed the memo, February is not only the month of Love, It's also Black History Month!
Did you know the first race riots in North America were in Canada? And that there actually was black slavery in Canada?
During the American Revolution, many black people were recruited and fought for the British Empire in exchange for their freedom from American slave owners.They also recruited white folks to their cause, promising both groups, known as Loyalists, free land titles in the Maritimes.
As the war came to an end in 1783, many of these folks, known as Black Loyalists, chose to settle in Nova Scotia. Of the Black Loyalists, around 1500 of them landed in Shelburne County. There were several settled black communities in the county. Most notably was the black neighbourhoods in Shelburne and Birchtown-which was the largest black community anywhere in North America. These communities were made up of a mixture of free and enslaved black people. The enslaved population came to Nova Scotia with their White Loyalist owners who fled America.
When both the Black and White Loyalists arrived in Nova Scotia, it quickly became apparent that this land that they were promised by the British Empire was less than desirable. It took much longer than expected for the new settlers to receive their land titles from the British. Once they finally did get the titles, the Loyalists soon found that the areas around Birchtown and Shelburne had poor soil and dense forest which made farming difficult.
Unsurprisingly, the Black Loyalists were given an even worse deal. It was quickly asserted that freedom did not mean equality, and the land parcels granted to Black Loyalists was even worse-and often even more delayed-than the land given to White Loyalists. Black Loyalists, many either recently freed or previously escaped slaves, had little to their names and wound up working for extremely low pay in conditions that paralleled the slavery they had fought with the British to escape.
White Loyalists also struggling to earn decent living saw these employed black folks as a threat and blamed them for costing White Loyalists out of the local job market.
Tensions came to a head when David George, a prominent Baptist minister from a neighborhood in Shelburne called Blacktown began baptising white folks as well as black. Local authorities deemed the act fair under law, but entrenched racist beliefs partnered with frustration over land distribution from the British Government brought white Loyalists to a boiling point. On 26 July 1784 a group of about 40 White Loyalists demolished the home of David George.
George persisted through the threat and continued to preach in Shelburne. This resistance angered the mob even more and they quickly returned to chase George out of the area through violence, beating him and those loyal to him. This deplorable act emboldened other white settlers to continue the violence against other black folks and drive more of them out of Shelburne and into the neighboring Birchtown. This began 10 days of rioting and race-driven conflict in Shelburne. Not only were black folks targeted, but the growing mob also went after any white folks believed to be supporting black people, or anyone associated with British authorities. Nova Scotia Governor John Parr used British land surveyor, Benjamin Marston as a scapegoat for the slow and poor land granting to the Loyalists, citing his alleged acceptance of bribes as the reason, Marston was subsequently fired, though this did little to rectify the situation, and nothing to reparate the harm done to the black community.
While the main riot lasted 10 days, it is believed that incident-related acts of violence may have gone on for up to a month. During the height of the riot, Governor Parr brought in additional military regiments to reestablish order. Ultimately, only one person was arrested for the violence done on hundreds of Black Loyalists.
Many displaced black people chose not to return to Shelburne. Many Black Loyalists moved on to new areas of the province. Others took an opportunity to settle in a new colony in Sierra Leone, favouring an uncertain future in a new land than continue to face the prejudice and deeply ingrained racism in Nova Scotia and North America as a whole. The riots had a major impact on the county immediately after, however. In the coming years the local economy would decline in tandem with the declining black population.
The British Empire did not abolish slavery successfully until 1807. However for the colonies, this did not occur until 1838-after slave owners were compensated. Newly freed people received nothing upon their release from their indentured servitude.
Black people were first recorded coming to Canada as early as 1605 and spread from coast to coast to coast by the 1850s. They are an important piece of both our history and our cultural mosaic. On honour of Black History Month, we encourage our members to learn about this history. For a full timeline of early black settlement in Canada, see this timeline of Early Black Settlement in Canada.
We’ve come a long way from the egregious and deplorable settler beginnings of so-called Canada, however to this day systemic racism persists. For this Black History Month, we encourage our members to learn about the harsher aspects of our past, and practice un-learning and curiosity to promote positive change and better equality for all. Don’t forget, your OCSU office has a library of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusive-themed books for you to enjoy, as does the OC and local public library.
If you’re looking for ways to support black folks in your community check out this black-owned business directory for a shop near you!
Lastly, credit where it's due-we got inspired to talk about the Shelburne Race Riots from Canadian TikToker, Kate, AKA (a)historyforhotties. Check her out for even more great Canadian Black History content from peer reviewed, academic sources.
Have an idea for an OCSU Equity monthly article? Drop us a line! info@ocsu.ca
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