Life in Nova Scotia
Upon arrival in Nova Scotia, the Black Loyalist settlers faced many difficulties. They received less land, fewer provisions and were paid lower wages than White Loyalists. Some fell into debt and had to sign terms of indentured servitude which resembled their former enslavement in America. In 1792, approximately 1,192 Black Nova Scotian settlers left Halifax, Nova Scotia and immigrated to Sierra Leone. (However the majority of free blacks did remain in Nova Scotia where their descendants today comprise the Black Nova Scotians, one of the oldest communities of Black Canadians.) The Nova Scotian settlers to Sierra Leone spoke Gullah and early forms of African American Vernacular English. The Nova Scotians were the only mass group of black Americans to immigrate to Sierra Leone under the auspices of the Sierra Leone Company; it was de facto policy that because of the democratic and 'American' ideals of the Nova Scotians no other American blacks would be allowed to immigrate in large groups to Sierra Leone.
Fifteen ships (containing the largest fleet of blacks in history) left Halifax Harbour on January 15, 1792 and arrived in Sierra Leone between February 28-March 9, 1792.
Read more about this topic: Nova Scotian Settlers (Sierra Leone)
Famous quotes containing the words nova scotia, life and/or nova:
“I’m a Nova Scotia bluenose. Since I was a baby, I’ve been watching men look at ships. It’s easy to tell the ones they like. You’re only waiting to get her into deep water, aren’t you—because she’s yours.”
—John Rhodes Sturdy, Canadian screenwriter. Richard Rossen. Joyce Cartwright (Ella Raines)
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—Thomas Merton (1915–1968)
“I’m a Nova Scotia bluenose. Since I was a baby, I’ve been watching men look at ships. It’s easy to tell the ones they like. You’re only waiting to get her into deep water, aren’t you—because she’s yours.”
—John Rhodes Sturdy, Canadian screenwriter. Richard Rossen. Joyce Cartwright (Ella Raines)