Читать книгу Africa's Children - Sharon Robart-Johnson - Страница 11

INTRODUCTION

March 23, 1801

NEGROES

The manner in which they treat the Negroes, is shocking to every principle of humanity; and were it not for custom, which they say is second nature, I think even a West Indian could not have the heart to do what I have seen done by the overseers of some of the Sugar Plantations near this place. Of all the other islands, Jamaica is said, in this respect, to be the least inhuman: but if the others exceed it as much as is reported, it would be doing an act of justice to mankind to exterminate them from the face of the Globe. The labor of the Slaves is peculiarly severe in the Sugar-Works. From day break they are employed under the lash of the overseer, in cutting and preparing the Cane; and when evening arrives, instead of being allowed to go to rest, the mill is set going; and the poor creatures, harrafsed [sic] with the day’s hardships, are forced to work at two watches all night — if they obtain four hours sleep, in the twenty-four, they think themselves comparatively fortunate. However this extreme barbarity continues only for those months in which they make Sugar, viz. January, May, June, July, November and December; if it was carried out longer the poor wretches would sink under the oppression … they would then be freed from an existence, which as it is, they are often induced to rid themselves of by Suicide — The most accurate description fails in deliniating the horrors of the Negroes Slavery … Would decency, would humanity permit it, I would unfold some tales of the cruelties exercised on the Blacks by the Planters that would make even a savage shudder, would draw tears of compassion from a very brute! But, in short, he who never beheld the woes of Slavery, can form no idea of their magnitude, and I am persuaded that were those members of the British Parliament who so strenuously uphold this detestable traffic, in their situation for a single hour, we should have the happiness of seeing the Abolition of the Slave-trade.”¹

Before proceeding with a history of the Blacks in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, it is important to briefly look at the background of the commercialization of enslaved Africans from its beginning. Slavery certainly was not unique to Yarmouth County, neither beginning nor ending there. Slavery has been part of human history from the earliest of days. It was August 8, 1444, when the first shipment of 235 slaves was loaded onto a Portuguese ship bound for its native land. Most of those slaves came from one village in Africa that the Portuguese had attacked, taking as many as they could. Despite the valiant efforts of the Africans to escape, some lost their lives. This ill-fated trip for the slaves was viewed as the first sell for profit cargo of human flesh from Africa.²

It was not only greedy sea captains and nefarious criminals, however, who profited from the capture and sale of slaves. Across various European countries, including England, many prominent men, lords, mayors, members of Parliament and wealthy landowners, to identify but a few, made a lucrative living off the trafficking of slaves. When slave ships left the various ports, slaves were packed into the holds of those ships like sardines in a can. Upwards of fifteen million Africans were crammed into crowded sailing ships crossing the Atlantic to North America, South America, and the Caribbean between 1450 and 1850.³

Introduction In 1856, Benjamin Drew, an American abolitionist from Boston, Massachusetts, who travelled through eastern Canada meeting with former slaves who had escaped on the Underground Railroad, wrote a book titled The Refugee; Or a North-Side View of Slavery, a compilation of narratives told by slaves. One of those slaves was named John Little. He told of how he had been bought and sold by several masters. At about the age of twenty-three (he was not certain of his age), he was finally sold to a man who “abused me like a dog — worse than a dog, — not because I did any thing wrong, but because I was a ‘nigger.’”⁴

One day, with hat in hand, he went to his master and asked for a pass to visit his mother. “No! I don’t allow my niggers to run about Sundays, gawking about; I want you to-morrow to look after the mules and the horses along with the rest of the niggers.”⁵ John, being a stubborn man and wanting desperately to see his mother, went without his pass. When he returned he received five hundred lashes for his disobedience.

Nor did children escape the drudgery of hard labour. By the age of five, children were sent to the fields, and at the age of seven or eight, plantation toil became their life of drudgery. Because the mortality rate of slaves was extremely high, many thirteen-year-old girls, just children themselves, were raped and forced to give birth to as many as five babies before they reached their twentieth birthday, only to have those babies ripped from their arms and sold to the highest bidder. Some owners sold as many as 6,000 babies in a single year. Young girls were offered their freedom if they gave birth to fifteen babies. Their reward of freedom was unlikely, however, as long as they were able to bear more children.⁶

In the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries the economic climate in Europe began to change. Agriculture was in the decline as industry — with its mechanization — was on the upswing. All the same, it was the humanitarian movement that spawned the anti-slavery groups, signalling the downward slope of slavery. Slaves were cruelly mistreated and punished for little or no reason, sometimes simply because they were slaves. Sometimes slaves would actually kill their own children or other family members to save them from these horrendous cruelties. Such inhumane practices were no longer tolerated by certain groups, and the cry for the abolition of slavery became loud and long, both in Europe and across North America. One group that became extremely active in the anti-slavery campaign was the American Quakers. They worked diligently for their cause and went so far as to form an association of different religious denominations called “The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage.”⁷

The American Revolution, also known as the American War of Independence, was fought between Great Britain and the thirteen British colonies on the North American continent. These colonies, with their different way of life and religious and political beliefs, wanted to be independent from their homeland. When the first shot was fired at Lexington in 1775, the war had begun. In November of that year, Lord John Murray Dunmore (John Murray), the British governor in charge of the New England colonies, promised freedom to those Black people who would fight on the side of the British. General George Washington, in charge of the rebel forces fighting for independence from Britain, had at first refused to recruit Blacks into their troops. However, when Lord Dunmore made his proclamation to indentured servants and Negroes, Washington decided to do the same with those slaves who agreed to fight on the American side.⁸

The first known free Black Loyalists to arrive in Nova Scotia were a group that became known as the “Company of Negroes.” They had been evacuated from Boston with other British troops in 1776, but there is very little information as to exactly how many came or where they settled. Robert S. Allen, in Loyalist Literature, notes only that a small “Company of Negroes” arrived in Halifax with the British after the evacuation of Boston.⁹ He does not mention whether they stayed there or were relocated. Although these Black men had fought gallantly, the British, in exchange for postwar reconciliation, began negotiations to return the Blacks to their former slave masters, contrary to their former commitment to providing freedom. Because of this betrayal, hundreds of Blacks were forced into inadequate housing and died of disease in the unsanitary conditions provided for them, or starved.¹⁰ This betrayal signalled British intentions, including the colony in Nova Scotia, to maintain slavery in their remaining colonies in North America.

In 1783 a wave of Black Loyalists converged in New York, and, under the supervision of the British commander-in-chief, Sir Guy Carleton, some three thousand people (1,336 men, 914 women, and 750 children) made the long voyage to Nova Scotia, England, and other locations.¹¹ Another source at the Nova Scotia Museum in Halifax states that as many as five thousand Blacks left New York on an unknown number of ships for Nova Scotia, the West Indies, Quebec, England, Germany, and Belgium. According to this reference, three thousand or more of these people came to Nova Scotia.

By the end of 1783, it is recorded that 1,485 free Blacks lived in Birchtown, Shelburne County, and another 1,269 — a combination of servants and free Blacks — lived in the Town of Shelburne.¹² According to the Black Loyalist Directory, the planning for the creation of the settlements of Shelburne and Birchtown began in New York City in 1782 and the actual work began when the Black pioneers arrived in Nova Scotia and surveyed land for settlement. This would explain why the majority were sent to Nova Scotia.

Though the Black Loyalists had been promised the same treatment as White Loyalist refugees from the American Revolution, they soon learned that their former problems followed them to their new land. The land grants that some had been given were so small and poor as to be almost worthless. The people who received the grants, as well as those who did not, were often forced to work for the White landowners. Because the necessity of becoming poorly paid labourers so dominated their lives, and because of the prejudice experienced on a daily basis, they felt they were little better off than they had been before — a predicament they thought they had shed in leaving the United States. More than one thousand Black Loyalists (enough to fill fifteen sailing vessels), tired of the hard life that had been thrust upon them, left Nova Scotia for Sierra Leone in Africa, arriving March 9, 1792.¹³ Those who chose not to make the exodus to Sierra Leone eventually settled in Shelburne, Birchtown, Tusket, and other parts of Yarmouth County. Among them were indentured, enslaved and freed Blacks, as identified in Historic Black Nova Scotians.¹⁴

LIBERATION IS ON THE WAY

A 1832 Yarmouth Telegram article, entitled “Slavery in the British Colonies,” reported that measures were proposed by the British Parliament for a new slave code for “bettering the condition of slaves.” The new act proposed the establishment of “Slave Protectors” to receive the complaints of slaves and to enforce the laws established for their protection by directing the abolition of Sunday markets, and the “regulation of punishment and protection from excessive labour.” It encouraged and secured the rite of marriage and permitted the acquisition of property, along with the guarantee of an adequate supply of goods, clothing, and medical attendance. It also established admissibility of slave evidence in a court of law. Perhaps, most importantly to the slaves themselves, it prevented the separation of families. Naturally, this stirred up opposition in the colonies. Canadian slave owners were understandably nervous about commercial losses if this law were enacted. They feared “the inquisitorial power of the Protectors, and the expenses their establishment would entail upon the colonies. They protested against the issuing of general ordinances without reference to the constitution and legal rights of each separate colony.”¹⁵

A year later, on August 16, 1833, the Yarmouth Herald and Western Advertiser stated that the House of Commons in Britain agreed “that immediate and effectual measures be taken for the entire abolition of slavery throughout Canada.” The article went on to say that all children born after the passing of the Act of Parliament, or those under the age of six at the time, be declared free; that all persons now slaves be registered “as apprenticed labourers and acquire all rights and privileges of free men.” Their owners were to be compensated with at least £20,000,000 sterling “as Parliament shall direct.”¹⁶

It was almost a year to the day (August 22, 1834) that the same newspaper announced the “Abolition of Slavery”:

On Friday the 1st instant [August 1, 1834], the whole system of Slavery within the dominions of Great Britain, was entirely abolished, and every slave under the dominion of British laws, emancipated. Wilberforce, the great advocate for the abolition of Slavery, died on the very night that the measure finally passed the House of Commons.

W.L. Grant of Upper Canada College, Toronto, in his History of Canada, wrote that as early as 1793, a law was passed forbidding the introduction of slaves in Upper Canada [Ontario]¹⁷ and making provisions for the gradual liberation of those already introduced. It is interesting to note that he observed “It is not probable that we should ever have had many slaves in a country with so cold a winter.”¹⁸

After two centuries of slavery, England finally abolished the practice in the British colonies on August 1, 1834. The actual trading of slaves had ended some twenty-seven years before when, on March 25, 1807, the British Parliament passed the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. With the end of slavery in the northern colonies of British North America, more slaves tried to escape the American South to find freedom in Canada. An informal network of escape routes known as the Underground Railroad arose in the United States. One of the best known “conductors” of this Underground Railroad was a Black woman named Harriet Tubman.¹⁹ For more than a decade, at the risk of her life, she assisted more than three hundred slaves. Many found their way to Canadian towns such as Dresden, North Buxton, St. Catharines, Windsor, and Chatham, Ontario. This clandestine system continued until December 1865, when Abraham Lincoln’s Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution was passed by the House of Representatives and slavery was finally abolished in the United States. Puerto Rico and Cuba abolished slavery in 1873 and 1886, respectively.

This was not the end of slavery, however. As late as September 26, 1926, twenty nations signed the International Slavery Convention, which prohibited the slave trade and the complete abolition of slavery in all forms.²⁰ It was confirmed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and adopted by the United Nations on December 10, 1948. In 1951, slavery still existed in some parts of the world, though declining.

Once freed, a vast number of the former slaves, now in Yarmouth, were unable to find work. In the end, a few resorted to stealing to feed themselves and their families and these acts led to harsh punishments for them and, all too often, their families, as well. As it was, Negroes in general were judged by the actions of one. If one was accused of stealing, all were considered thieves, the consensus being that all Blacks were alike — good for only menial tasks. Certainly, at the time, they were not viewed as capable of filling more professional positions such as pharmacists, police officers, tax auditors, and schoolteachers — heaven forbid that a Negro would teach a White child.

Regrettably, this attitude can still be found in Yarmouth, with prejudicial attitudes still actively judging all members of the group by the actions of one. Fortunately, the twentieth-century generation of Blacks in Yarmouth have chosen to triumph over this attitude and many have excelled in their chosen fields. Over the years, Yarmouth Blacks have moved into the professional ranks, including a pharmacist, Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers, a federal government tax auditor who also has a master’s in business and a teaching licence, schoolteachers, nurses, and several other government workers. Martin Luther King’s famous words, “I have a dream,” on August 28, 1963, applies to all Black people.

YARMOUTH: A HOTBED OF SLAVERY

Who would have thought that some of Yarmouth’s esteemed citizens would resort to holding another human being in bondage? In truth, Negroes in Yarmouth were bought and sold like cattle at an auction. The only difference being that cattle, until sent to slaughter, were treated with more care than some of the slaves.

Not all slave owners were cruel, however. Some purchased Negroes and saved them from a life of strife. They were provided with food, work, clothing, and a decent place to live. But make no mistake, they were still slaves, forced to remain with one proprietor for an indeterminate period of time under the guise of “indentured servant,” a fancy name for slave. Often times, when the head of a household died, he or she (women were slave owners, as well) would, for better or for worse, will the slave or slaves to another member of the family.

Nevertheless, a few slave owners felt it was their God-given right to subject their slaves to cruel and barbaric treatment, to whip, maim, brutalize, and rape at will. Men, women, and children alike were forced into this life of bondage, with, in some cases, only bread to eat and stagnant water to drink. Many women and young girls were forced to endure the unwanted attentions of their masters and sons. Attempting to resist this injustice invited a beating, or worse, death — for some a welcome state. Children were often born of these rapes, born to be cast into the life of slavery as their ancestors before them. Would it ever end?

The first following chapter recounts the death of a slave girl and subseqent trial of Samual Andrews of Yarmouth and his family. His last will and testament identifies him as a slave owner:

The Last Will and Testament of Samuel Andrews of Yarmouth

In the name of God Amen, I Samuel Andrews, of Yarmouth, in the County of Shelburne and Province of Nova Scotia again being of sound and perfect mind and memory do this fifth day of April in the year one thousand seven hundred and Ninety Nine make and publish this my last will and testament in manner following, that is to say, I give and bequeath to my dear Wife Mary Andrews, all my real estate situate lying and being in the said township of Yarmouth and whereon I now reside and which I occupy and improve consisting of a tract of land of two hundred and fifty acres, together with the buildings and other improvements thereon — Also all my person estate consisting of two female negro infant slaves, thirty head of horned cattle, ten head of sheep, forty pounds in cash, household furniture, farming utensils, and whatever else I may be in possession of at the time of my decease.…²¹

There is more to Andrew’s will but the relevant part is, not only did he own two female Negro infant slaves (classified as infant until the age of 21), but he packaged them along with the sheep, cattle, and farming utensils.