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The Price of Loyalty Copyright © 2005, W. David Tarver In August of 2000, I and my son Aaron and my brother-in-law Evans went on a sort of male-bonding trip. The destination was Nova Scotia. Why Nova Scotia? I had heard that it was a beautiful place, and that the seafood in Halifax and elsewhere was excellent. Also, a few years ago, I met a black guy from Nova Scotia who told me about a community of blacks whose ancestors settled in Nova Scotia after the Revolutionary War. I was intrigued with the prospect of making a connection with this community. On the appointed day, we loaded up the car with our stuff and set off on the road to Portland, Maine. At Portland, we loaded the car on a ferry that took us across the bay to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Even though the ride was billed as an overnight "cruise", it was quite uncomfortable. Our cabin was small, the ride was rocky, and the food was horrible. The best thing I can say about the "cruise" is that, eleven hours after it began, it was over. When we arrived at Yarmouth, we couldn’t wait to unload the car and get on the road to Halifax. Once we got on the road, though, we realized that we were hungry for some decent food, so we stopped in a little hamlet called Tusket to eat. There we found a small, nondescript restaurant called the Hickory Hut Eatery. They had their own smokehouse for preparing meat (Canadian bacon, of course), and the whole meal was quite extraordinary. To top it off, breakfast for the three of us cost just 10 bucks Canadian, or about $6.50 U.S. Fortified by our surprisingly good breakfast, we struck out again on the road to Halifax. We stopped in the town of Argyle to tour a place called the Lobster Bay Museum. Allen, the museum owner, seemed quite knowledgeable about the history of Nova Scotia, so I asked him where we could find the community of black settlers I had heard about. Allen immediately knew the place I was asking about, and he pointed us toward a place called Birchtown.
Traveling down the road some time later, we encountered a sign that said "Cape Negro". It was odd to see those words on a typical road sign. When I saw the sign, I figured that we must be close to the black community we were looking for. I was so excited that I pulled over to the shoulder of the road, and my brother-in-law and I took turns posing by the sign. Cape Negro, indeed!
A few minutes later, we reached Birchtown, where we encountered a small roadside park. The centerpiece of the park was a monument to a group of people called the Black Loyalists. I had not heard of this group before, so I was immediately curious. Who were the Black Loyalists, and why had they settled in this remote part of North America? Further down the road, we arrived at a small clapboard building that housed the Black Loyalists Museum, and there we finally learned the story of these people. Our museum guide told us that the Black Loyalists were mostly former slaves from the U.S. colonies who had been enlisted to fight on the side of the British in the American war for independence. In return for loyalty to the British, these blacks were promised freedom and land when the war was over. When the British lost the war, about 5000 of these Black Loyalists boarded ships at New York and were transported to Nova Scotia. Once there, they were to receive the freedom and land they were promised by the British. Unfortunately, the promises were not kept. Most of the Loyalists did not receive the land they were promised. Many were forced into indentured servitude in Nova Scotia. Almost all found life in Nova Scotia difficult and disappointing and cold.
By 1791, the Black Loyalists realized that the promises of freedom and land made to them were not going to be fulfilled. A group of dissatisfied Black Loyalists petitioned the British government for passage to Sierra Leone. Over 1000 Black Loyalists subsequently boarded ships for the return trip to Africa. Some made it back, while others were simply re-sold into slavery in the Caribbean. Listening to the story, I imagined the joy the former slaves must have felt as their ship approached the shore of a beautiful Caribbean island. They must have been thinking, "Free at last!" Then I imagined their incredible sorrow upon learning that they were not in Africa, were not free, but were slaves once again. For these brave, hopeful human beings, such was the price of loyalty. More information about the Black Loyalists can be found on the web at http://museum.gov.ns.ca/blackloyalists/ January 26, 2005 Red Bank, New Jersey |
