African Nova Scotians in the Age of Slavery and Abolition

This ad contains an interesting description of 'Dick', who ran away from his owner, Benjamin Douglas, a Loyalist who served in the King's Carolina Rangers. Most Loyalists brought slaves from America and continued to hold them in their new home.

Historians have tended to underestimate the extent of slavery and its impact on Nova Scotia. However, its impact has been eloquently expressed by African Nova Scotian writers and poets such as Carrie Best, Pearleen Oliver, George Borden and David Woods. Poet Borden, for example, echoes Best's striking description of Nova Scotia as "at one time a slave plantation." He uses the recurring phrase "plantation north" as a metaphor for the African Nova Scotian experience. (George A. Borden, "Plantation North" in Canaan Odyssey, Black Cultural Centre 1988).

Date: 9 December 1783

Reference: Nova Scotia Archives  Nova Scotia Gazette and Weekly Chronicle 09 December 1783 page 4 (microfilm 8159)