Establishment of Black Communities in Canada, 19th century
The establishment of Black communities in Canada during the 19th century was a significant aspect of the country’s history, reflecting the complex dynamics of migration, societal change, and the quest for freedom. Many Black individuals and families sought refuge in Canada after escaping enslavement in the United States. The arrival of Black Loyalists, who were freed due to their service during the American Revolutionary War, and later groups like the Black Refugees from the War of 1812, contributed to the formation of these communities. Although slavery was abolished in British North America in 1834, Black Canadians still faced discrimination, including restricted employment opportunities and residential segregation.
Communities such as Dawn, Buxton, and Priceville were established by former enslaved individuals and abolitionists, creating spaces for cultural preservation, education, and mutual assistance. These settlements often arose near key Underground Railroad routes, serving as terminuses for many seeking freedom. Notably, the Dawn Settlement, founded by Reverend Josiah Henson, became a self-sufficient community that included a vocational school. While some settlements thrived, others faced challenges such as inadequate land grants and opposition from local authorities, leading many residents to seek opportunities elsewhere. The legacy of these 19th-century Black communities continues to influence contemporary discussions around race, identity, and belonging in Canada.
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Establishment of Black Communities in Canada, 19th century
Many individuals and groups were involved in the establishment of Black communities in Canada during the nineteenth century. Some were newly escaped from enslavement in the United States, while others were abolitionists seeking to aid new refugees and migrants. While enslavement was outlawed in regions that became modern-day Canada for much of the nineteenth century, Black people were denied some forms of employment and often not permitted to live in certain areas. Some Black communities were established by people who had been enslaved and worked to free and assist others. Some began when military officials gave land grants to Black people for their service. Black communities allowed residents to preserve and share their culture including their style of worship and music. They built their own churches and founded fraternal, mutual assistance, and abolition organizations. Although some communities endured, others were of short duration as people moved on seeking new opportunities.
Background
Black enslavement in New France and British North America, colonies of France and Britain respectively, had existed since the 1600s. Some originated in Africa, while others were transported from the West Indies or New England. Most were domestic workers in urban areas rather than field workers from rural plantations. After the American Revolutionary War (1775–83), many Loyalists who had opposed American independence migrated to British North America (France had ceded most colonial land in North America to Britain in 1763), taking about two thousand enslaved Black people with them. Most settled in Ontario and Nova Scotia. In addition, up to 3,500 Black Loyalists who had been freed because of service to Britain moved to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Many of these so-called Black Loyalists joined Black communities in Upper Canada (modern-day Ontario) between Windsor and Toronto.
During the War of 1812, some enslaved persons sought protection from the British. About two thousand who were freed, known as the Black Refugees, were sent to Nova Scotia between 1813 and 1816. About one thousand more Black Refugees settled in New Brunswick.
Among the White Loyalists who settled in Canada were many abolitionists. Upper Canada began the process of eradicating slavery in the 1790s and over several decades, an international embargo on the transatlantic slave trade severely limited the number of enslaved persons being trafficked to British North America. British Parliament abolished enslavement in all British North America colonies effective on August 1, 1834.
From the 1820s to the 1860s, increasing numbers of Black people who escaped enslavement in the US sought refuge in Canada. Some arrived on their own, while others were aided by volunteers of the Underground Railroad. By the start of the American Civil War in 1861, about thirty thousand Black fugitives had fled to Canada. After Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Black people who lived in free states feared that they would be kidnapped by slave catchers or arrested for assisting escapees and moved to Canada.
In some areas, government policies of segregation required Black Loyalists, refugees, and others to live on the edges of White towns. Some Black settlements were established near major cities such as Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Overview
Some Black settlements in Canada arose as the result of land grants, while other communities formed on the edges of established towns and cities. Many early settlers moved on because land grants were too small to support their families, or they sought opportunities elsewhere.
In some cases, the government actively recruited Black Americans. Thirty-five Black settlers sailed from San Francisco, California, to Victoria in the Colony of British Columbia in 1858 to discuss migration on behalf of their community. Their decision was prompted by the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision (1857), which ruled that no Black person was legally considered a US citizen. Some of the committee members were delighted by their reception in Canada and remained, working on farms, or establishing a brick-making company, while others returned to California to organize migration of friends and family. About eight hundred Black people settled on Victoria Island and Salt Spring Island over the course of several months.
Upper Canada’s only government-sponsored Black settlement began in 1815 when Lieutenant Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland made land grants in Oro Township, Ontario, to Black veterans of the War of 1812 (1812–5), which pitted the US against the British Empire. The veterans were meant to be a buffer along the border of the province, but subsequent grants in this region near Lake Simcoe were made to laborers who had arrived from the United States. The grants required the holders to build a house, clear land, and pay some fees. While some settled there, much of the land was not suitable for farming and within a few decades, many of the owners had moved elsewhere to find work. The maximum population was about one hundred people. By the twenty-first century, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, built in 1849, was all that remained. The restored structure is a National Historic Site of Canada.
Some of the most significant Black settlements formed near Underground Railroad routes. Dawn, Priceville, and others were terminuses for the network that helped an estimated thirty thousand people flee enslavement in the United States.
The Dawn Settlement was established in the 1840s when Reverend Josiah Henson and other abolitionists purchased 200 acres of land in Southwestern Ontario and established a vocational training school, the British American Institute. The Dawn Settlement arose around the school. Residents attended the school, farmed, and worked in industries including sawmills. In addition to those who arrived via the Underground Railroad, free Black Americans moved to Dawn, which became a self-sufficient community of at least five hundred residents. Author Harriet Beecher Stowe based the main character of her 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin on Henson’s autobiography and a meeting she had with him.
Buxton, also called the Elgin Settlement, was founded by White preacher William King, who freed those he enslaved in the United States and moved with them to Ontario in 1849. He bought hundreds of acres for the settlement and sold some to newly arrived freedom seekers over time. Buxton became a thriving agricultural community.
Priceville in Ontario was settled by Black families in the late 1840s. According to the 1851 census, which counted 117 Black settlers, all the families comprised parents born in the United States and most children born in Canada. However, though they had cleared and cultivated the land and built houses, they had not owned the land. When they tried to buy the properties, Crown land agents refused them and granted the properties to new arrivals from Ireland and Scotland who were fleeing the Potato Famine. Many families moved away, some returning to the United States.
Bibliography
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Harewood, Adrian. “Ontario’s Priceville Was a Small, Thriving Black Community—Until It Wasn’t.” CBC, 22 Mar. 2022, www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/priceville-ontario-black-history-1.6333960. Accessed 6 June 2023.
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