Black Refugees in Canada

Thousands of black people sought refuge in Canada before the U.S. Civil War. While most refugees encountered at least some racism among Canadian citizens, many of those same refugees also thrived under the auspices of the Canadian government, which worked to protect blacks from the U.S. slaveowners who sought to re-enslave them. This work brings to light the life stories of several nineteenth-century black refugees who managed to survive in their new country by gaining work as barbers, postal carriers, washerwomen, waiters, cab owners, ministers, newspaper editors, and physicians. The book begins with a short historical account of blacks in Canada from 1629 until the early 1800s, when the first groups of escaped slaves began to enter the country.

Independent scholar George Hendrick lives in Port Jefferson, New York.
The late Willene Hendrick was an independent scholar from Urbana, Illinois.

George Hendrick and Willene Hendrick
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 192
Bibliographic Info: 11 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2010
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4733-6
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5615-4
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii
Preface      1

1. Blacks in Canada: The Early Years      3
2. Shadrach      19
3. Josiah Henson and Eliza Harris      23
4. Madison Washington      54
5. The Shadd Family      59
6. Lewis Richardson, Formerly a Slave on Henry Clay’s Plantation      73
7. The Blackburns      77
8. Ann Maria Jackson      84
9. Harriet Tubman      88
10. John Fairfield, Southern Abolitionist Who Helped Slaves Escape to Canada      92
11. Chaplain Garland H. White      97
12. Dr. A.T. Augusta      107
13. The Abbott Family      110
14. John Henry Hill      113
15. Mr. and Mrs. John Little      119
16. Narratives by Refugees in Three Canadian Towns: An Except from The Refugees: A North-Side View of Slavery (1856)      130
17. Statements By and About Black Refugees in Canada      157
18. God Save Queen Victoria      163

Chapter Notes      167
Bibliography      175
Index      179