African Nova Scotian Teaching and Learning

Certificates for Thomas Williams and his wife as "freeborn Blacks", 1 July 1781

Thomas Williams and his wife Hannah were Loyalists. They had lost their "free pass" and all their possessions in a shipwreck, but were able to have their status as "freeborn Blacks" certified by an official who had seen their passport previously. In 1789 Joseph Leonard and nearly 150 other black settlers including Thomas Williams applied for a land grant at Clements township. Warrants to survery 50 acres for each were issued, but the grant was never made.

Date: 1 July 1781

Reference Commissioner of Public Records Nova Scotia Archives RG 1 volume 170 page 333

Questions to Consider

When do you think the document was written?

Who do you think wrote the document?

Why do you think the document was written

Who do you think received the document?

Who do you think this document was written for?

What information do you think this document provides? What do you think it tells us about the past?

How do you think the document reflects the attitudes and values of the time period in which it was written?

What impact do you think the document had at the time it was written?

Do you think those were different impacts for different people?