![]() ![]() ![]() In Nova Scotia, many were never given the land they had been promised and were left to freeze or starve to death or to be hanged for trifling offenses such as stealing potatoes. After being evacuated to Nova Scotia in 1783, some were enslaved or indentured in Canada. Men and women, children in tow, came to live for years in ragged canvas tents on the southern tip of Manhattan. ![]() The story of the Black Loyalists is one of survival in the face of betrayal. The document itself embraces the history of peoples of African descent as they moved from Africa to the Americas in slavery, and then threw off their chains to serve the British wartime effort in every capacity imaginable. The Book of Negroes is the best title for a novel and television miniseries about 3,000 people whose names and autobiographical details were entered into a British naval ledger by the same name. As we lurch forward, grappling with new terms in new contexts, we should at least be inspired by history. ![]()
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