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The Blacks, Anti-Slavery and
the Underground Railway
Black slaves were bought to Canada as early as 1608. By 1759 there
were more than 1000 Black slaves in the then New France. After the
fall of New France to Britain in 1763 many Loyalists immigrating from
the United States brought their slaves with them. However, most of the
blacks who settled in Nova Scotia after the American Revolution were
free. In August 1834 slavery was abolished for all the British Empire
including the North American colonies. At the outbreak of the
Civil War, sentiment in British North America-- while not necessarily pro-North -- was
definitely anti-slavery.
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I'm on my way to Canada
That cold and distant land
The dire effects of slavery
I can no longer stand -
Farewell old master,
Don't come after me.
I'm on my way to Canada
Where coloured men are free.
A version of the song "The Free Slave,"
by the American abolitionist George W. Clark |
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Here the slave found freedom. Before the United States Civil War 1861-65 Windsor was an important terminal of the Underground
Railway. Escaping from bondage, thousands of fugitive slaves from
the South, men women and children landing near this spot found in
Canada friends, freedom, protection under the British flag.
Historical plaque, Windsor, Ontario
Canada is not merely a neighbor of negroes. Deep in our history of struggle for freedom Canada was the North Star.
Martin Luther King, Jr., CBC Massey Lectures, 1967 |
The Underground Railway was a network of safe houses and individuals who
helped runaway slaves reach free states in the American North or Canada.
It operated from about 1840 to 1860. It was most effective after the
passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 which enabled slave hunters to
pursue runaways onto free soil. It is estimated that about 30 000
Blacks reached Canada by the "railway." The best-known "conductor" was
Harriet Tubman.
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Two Black newspapers, Voice of the Fugitive and Provincial
Freeman, were published in Canada. They attacked racism, created a more
sympathetic climate for Blacks and provided helpful advice.
Copyright/Source
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In 1858 the famous American abolitionist John Brown visited
Canada. He chose Chatham, in Canada West, as a safe base from which to
develop his strategy, draw up a constitution for his planned provisional
government and drum up support for the abolitionist cause.
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