Home: Our Story: Suffering: Freedom Denied
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Home: Our Story: Suffering: Freedom Denied |
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Still Landless
For the Black Loyalists, there could be no security in freedom. What was a natural right for most whites could be stolen from blacks with frightening ease. Given the poverty and starvation of the time, many blacks had little choice but to sell themselves into indenture. A form of temporary slavery, indenture and the related custom of apprenticeship were common for both blacks and whites. Blacks faced additional dangers though; they were without influential friends and viewed by most as a servant class. Many thought that blacks were natural slaves, suited only for brute labour and taking orders. In circumstances like these, it was all too easy for whites to exploit their servants. Some sought to lengthen terms of indenture, either by tricking illiterate people into signing longer terms than they intended or by forging the original contract. John Clarkson recorded the sad story of Lydia Jackson, who was pressured into signing what she thought was a one year term of indenture. In fact, it was for 39 years. She was then sold to a man who beat her mercilessly, even when she was eight months pregnant. He then attempted to sell her as a slave in the West Indies. Disputes like these rarely reached the courts, as the word of a black was not considered to be of as much weight as that of a white citizen. Parents who could not support their children would often indenture them off so they could learn a trade. Sometimes reclaiming them was impossible. Some masters would present a bill for several years of lodging; of course a poor family could never hope to pay. Others would simply claim that the children had been their slaves from the beginning. If possible, many would sell their servants as slaves to people traveling outside Nova Scotia, where their claims would never even be considered. At other times, long ago claims of ownership would be brought up. The case of Mary Postell is instructive. Mary escaped from her rebel master in South Carolina and fled to British lines. She received a certificate of freedom, but had it stolen from her. In the evacuation, she ended up traveling to Florida in the service of a man named Jesse Gray. Gray claimed her as his slave, and sold her to his brother claiming he had bought her in Florida. Gray evacuated to Shelburne when Florida was returned to Spain, and Mary feared she would be sold off again. She escaped, but ended up in court defending her freedom. Mary found two witnesses from Birchtown who attested to her having been a rebel slave and a worker on the British lines. Those witnesses had their homes destroyed and one of their children was murdered while they testified in court. Despite all this, the court found in the Gray brothers' favour, and Mary was sold off in Argyle for 100 bushels of potatoes, with her children kept in bondage as well. In other cases people simply kidnapped free blacks and sold them off in the United States or the West Indies; much like the African slave trade but with a much shorter voyage. While selling slaves outside of the province was illegal, many people found exceptions of one sort or another or simply defied the embargo. Trade with the Indies was practically the only commerce going, and there were numerous opportunities to smuggle blacks on board. Here, the famed Lord Dunmore once again comes into play. Despite his legacy of having freed thousands of slaves, he was no opponent of slavery. As the new Governor of the Bahamas, Dunmore offered bounties to ship's captains who brought their cargo of slaves to his ports. In a strange twist of fate, four of his personal slaves managed to escape to Shelburne on trading ship, and Dunmore sent agents to recapture them. One was quickly found, and another had himself put in jail for nonpayment of a debt. The courts refused to release him until the debt was paid. The agents refused to do so at first, but eventually settled with the debtor for half the amount. The other two women escaped capture and may even have descendants in Nova Scotia today.
Still Landless
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