African Nova Scotians in the Age of Slavery and Abolition

William McLaughlin, a weaver, petitions the House of Assembly for assistance to buy wool in order to employ several black women at Preston. He notes that "the black women are generally good spinners." He hopes that by providing them with work these women, now starving, would be "enabled to procure a livelihood." The Assembly voted against referring the petition to the committee of supply, and ordered it withdrawn.

Date: 14 February 1836

Reference: Nova Scotia House of Assembly — Assembly petitions series  Nova Scotia Archives  RG 5 series P volume 52 number 45 (microfilm 9798)