Black Loyalists New Brunswick: The Lives of Eight African Americans Colonial Brunswick 1783-1834 in Bloomington, MN

In this book, Stephen Davidson describes the experiences of eight African Americans who sought sanctuary in New Brunswick after the American Revolutionary War. Most were slaves owned by Americans fighting the British. Fleeing their owners and supporting the British cause, these Black Loyalists were granted freedom and transported to Saint John to begin new lives. In these brief biographies there are love stories, tragedy, encounters with official racism and a dramatic murder trial. Blacks arriving in New Brunswick included enslaved men, women and children who came as property of white Loyalists. Enslaved and free Blacks lived in the same community, and in these life stories readers will see the emergence of a deeply divided settler society where inequality based on colour was firmly and quickly embedded. From the start, however Black New Brunswickers sought the same rights and privileges accorded to their white contemporaries. Drawing on primary historical documents, Stephen Davidson's narrative illuminates the systemic barriers to Black equality put in place as Canada was settled.