Читать книгу Benjamin Drew. The Refugee. Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada онлайн

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The peace treaty between France and England in 1760 authenticated the perpetuation of slavery in Québec under the English regime (Trudel 124-142). Yet, by 1800, slavery was rendered unrealizable in Lower Canada. However, prior to that achievement, slave numbers increased when Loyalists arrived with their slaves around 1783. The escape of Loyalists, mainly to Nova Scotia, produced a historical document that “offers us the richest collection of recorded statements by black subjects at the time, at a moment when they were about to become Nova Scotians” (Siemerling 36). Tellingly, the “Book of Negroes”, that represents a milestone in the history of Black Canadians, is an account book created in two versions by British and United States officials in 1783 which includes the names of three thousand Black subjects evacuated from New York in 1783 on an array of ships that were bound for Québec, England, Germany and, primordially, for Nova Scotia. Above all, the “Book of Negroes” represents the testimony of Black individuals that eventually became Canadian citizens. In other words, it is a Black Canadian text that can be seen as a collection of Black testimonies or “an anthology of embryonic slave narratives” (Siemerling 37). What is more, due to the cross-border nature of these Black people’s flight, the ledger constitutes the seed of transnational Black Canadian writing.⁴ Another specific and important aspect with regard to the “Book of Negroes” is that it contains relevant information about masters and their slaves moving up north. In fact, many entries in the book openly reveal stories of persistent slavery in Canada.