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

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Canada is equally lauded for its racial integration in churches and schools, as it appears in the collection when it is affirmed that “colored youths are attending lectures in the University”. This is by no means just another political move for these Blacks ex-fugitives. Education, the act of reading and writing, became crucial in slavery times for the ontological birth of the African slave. Acquiring the skills of literacy granted the enslaved freedom but also the epistemological drive to become thinking citizens and, therefore, to fully participate as active agents in the construction of a more egalitarian, fair, and free society. That Canada grants the new Black Canadians the opportunity to get an education is much more than an act of inclusion. In fact, it represents the yearned acknowledgement of their citizenship and their humanity. Therefore, a large number of the testimonies in Drew’s collection revolve around the question of education and their gratitude over it. J. C. Brown emphasizes: “Our children growing up in this country [Canada] and not having the fear of any white man, and being taught to read write, will grow up entirely different from their fathers – of more benefit to themselves, or more benefit to the government, and will be more able to set good examples to the rising generation”. In a similar vein, we also find the accounts of Phillip Younger: “Before I came here, I resided in the free States. I came here in consequence of the passage of the Fugitive Slave Bill. It was a hardship at first; but I feel better here – more like a man I know I am – than in the States. I suffer from want of education. I manage by skill and experience and industry – but it’s as if feeling my way in the dark”. Or that of Isaac Riley: “I went to St. Catharines and got fifty cents a day. By and by, I heard of Mr. King’s settlement – I came here and have got along well. My children can get good learning here”.