Nova Scotia Archives
African Nova Scotian Teaching and Learning
Passport for Cato Ramsay to emigrate to Nova Scotia
This document demonstrates that black refugees behind British lines needed passports to escape from America after the War of Independence. Indeed, some without passports were returned to their place of origin, which meant a return to slavery. Also, it makes clear that Ramsay initiated his freedom by escaping to the British lines, which certainly put his life at risk.
Date: 21 April 1783
Reference Gideon White family fonds Nova Scotia Archives MG 1 volume 948 number 196 (microfilm 14960)
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?