Black History

Slavery

Slavery was not unique to the New World. Slavery existed in Mesopotamia more than 5000 years ago and continued through the Greek and Roman empires and into the Middle Ages.   By 1300 AD, black slaves were being imported from Africa to Italian plantations, and a century later the Portuguese were enslaving blacks on sugar plantations on the islands off West Africa. In the 16^th and 17^th centuries the Portuguese shipped nearly 4 million slaves from Africa to Brazil and other parts of South America.   The Spaniards used African slaves in Mexico, Cuba and the Caribbean.   The French had half a million slaves on the island of Santo Domingo alone.

The start of commercial tobacco and cotton farming in Britain`s American colonies was quickly followed by the introduction of slavery.  The first sale occurred when a Dutch shipper sold 20 African blacks to the settlers of Jamestown, VA, in 1619, just 7 years after the start of commercial tobacco growing.   By 1714 the Colonial slave population was estimated at 59,000.  40 years later it had increased to 293,000.  During the same time, tobacco and cotton farming thrived, largely because of the availability of slave labour.

McCaughan & Francis, Freedom was River`s Width Away

Slaves were considered to be the property of their owners...Because the slaves were property, they were treated as such.  They were bought and sold.  Families were broken up and sold, children, parents, and spouses often separated forever.  Pay was meager, if payment was made at all.  Education was forbidden.  Labour was long and difficult.  Beatings were not uncommon, and in some parts of the Deep South slaves were crucified as punishment.  Sexual abuse of female slaves was overlooked.  But most of all, there as no freedom.

Legalized slavery in Canada goes back to 1628 when English adventurer David Kirke brought to New France a native of Madagascar.  Kirke disposed of him quickly for a handsome profit, making him Canada’s first slave.  Four years later the slave was baptized Olivier Le Jeune.  By 1760 there were approximately 1100 blacks residing in New France, most of whom lived in or near Montreal and were either house servants or farm hands.  We are not sure of ratio of slave to free because the distinction was a highly nuanced one in New France.  "Due to their high prices their limited numbers, their domestic position and their closeness to the family, black slaves in New France experienced one of the most benign forms of slavery – as a distinct social and economic institution slavery had been in steady decline for many years.  " The Conquest of 1759 reversed the trend.   In the treaty of capitulation, 8 September 1760, Clause 47 guaranteed the continued servitude of all slaves to their respective masters, and this clause was included in the Treaty of Paris, 1763, and left in force in Quebec Act of 1774.  By 1784, there were more than 4,000 blacks living in the British colonies north of the United States – at least 1,800 of them were slaves.  It is also known that an informal slave trade was carried on by several well-known Loyalists.

Slavery and Freedom in Niagara - Power & Butler P 12

1793 Anti Slavery Act

Simcoe’s Anti-Slavery Act of 1793, as popularly believed, did not free slaves in Upper Canada; rather it provided for the gradual abolition of slavery – for freedom for future generations.  It began as a typical compromise.  Simcoe favoured complete and immediate abolition and considered issuing a proclamation to that effect at the beginning of his administration.   He is quoted as promising before he arrived in Upper Canada "not to give assent to any law that discriminates by dishonest policy between the natives of Africa, America or Europe".   This is considered naive.   The Upper Canada he was coming to was a Loyalist establishment, populated by recent immigrants who were naturally jealous of their property rights as British citizens, having forfeited practically everything in their defence of the Crown in the late Revolutionary War.   They were in no rush to deprive themselves of valuable property which they regarded as essential to their economic viability in the colony.

Slavery and Freedom in Niagara, Michael Power & Nancy Butler p9-10

Provisions of the Act:

The legislation which passed July 9, 1793, was a compromise between two claims – outright freedom for slaves and the property rights of their owners:

• the heir of a free man and a slave woman would be a slave
• the Act did not free any slave, thus securing property rights of those who had purchased slaves in advance of 9 July 1793 – unless manumitted by their owners, they would remain slaves until death
• the Act did not abolish the sale or purchase of slaves or the rights of owners to track down and apprehend runaways inside provincial boundaries
• it did forbid any importation of slaves into the province
• the children of slaves born after the date of the act would be free on their 25th birthday, children of these children born after the date of the act were automatically free
• the period of indentured service was limited to 9 years
• the final section of the act made manumission a difficult if not impossible choice for many slave owners. Section v: "that whenever any master or mistress shall liberate or release any person subject to the condition of a Slave from their service, they shall at the same time give good and sufficient security to the Church or Town Wardens of the parish or township where they live that the person so released by them shall not become chargeable to the same, or any other parish or township." [in other words, a manumitted slave had to be self-sufficient and could not appeal to the town or the church for help]
• Simcoe is quoted in a letter to Henry Dundas, 16 September, 1793: "The greatest resistance was to the Slave Bill, mainly plausible arguments of the dearness of labour and the difficulty of obtaining servants to cultivate lands were brought forward."

Some Upper Canadians who were possessed of negroes, knowing that it was very questionable whether any subsisting law did authorize slavery, and having purchased several taken in war by the Indians at small prices, wished to reject the bill entirely, others were desirous to supply themselves by allowing the importation for two years. The matter was finally settled by undertaking to secure the property already obtained upon condition that an immediate stop should be put to the importation and that slavery should be gradually abolished."

Slavery and Freedom in Niagara - Power & Butler p 24-30

‘All slaves henceforward entering Upper Canada were to be free. As the sweet singer of Olney had said, "that moment when they touch our soil that moment they are free". All children of slaves were to be free at 25 years of age, and any born after the Act of 1793 were, of course, free. The advertisement of the sale of slaves after this date is thus explained. That the bill was not passed without opposition we learn from a letter of Simcoe to Dundas, September, 1793, some wishing to bring in slaves for two years more, but, as usual, a compromise was made, property secured and abolition was gradual. In the census of 1793, taken by Colonel Butler, there is mentioned one male slave, the property of Mr. McMicking. In the will of Colonel Butler slaves were left to his heirs. On 3rd July, 1793 – this was before the Act was passed – there was an advertisement by Thomas Butler of "five dollars reward; ran away, a negro man-servant named John. All forbid harboring him at their peril." In 1795 – "for sale, for three years by the year or the month, a negro wench named Cloe, 23 years old, understands washing, cooking. " Signed Robert Franklin at the Receiver-General’s. Cloe would evidently be free in less than three years. January 25, 1795 - "Wanted, a negro girl about 12. A generous price will be given. Apply to printers." And again, October 4th – "Wanted to purchase a negro girl from 7 to 12 of good disposition; W. J. Crooks." In 1801 –"For sale, a negro man slave, 18 years old, has had the smallpox. " In 1802 – "All persons are forbidden harboring my Indian slave Sal, as I am determined to prosecute any offenders to the utmost extent of the law and persons who suffer her to remain on their premises for the space of half an hour without my written consent will be taken as offending and dealt with accordingly. Charles Field. " This advertisement sounds sufficiently imperious. We know that some of the United Empire Loyalists brought slaves with them, as McMicking of Stamford, and on the Servos farm was one called Bob Jupiter. An advertisement, November 28, 1802, reads: "For sale, a negro slave, 18 years of age, stout and healthy, has had smallpox, and is capable of service either in the house or outdoors. Cash in payment. Inquire of printer." As all children born in slavery would be free at the latest in 1818, we find no advertisements in later papers, but in 1826, Ralfe Clench advertises, "Sixpence reward for an indented black servant girl, named Maria Breckenridge, who, with her black stepfather, stole blankets, etc., which were received at Lewiston." Several strange stories are told of slaves who had escaped from the far south, following the north star to liberty, crossing the Niagara river, one being so confused that when he landed on the Canadian side he thought he was wrong and went back, fortunately finding out his mistake before it was too late. One who afterwards became a useful and trusted servant attempted to cross on a heavy door, but was carried out to the lake and only picked up by the steamer from Toronto the next day.’

Carnochan, The History of Niagara p 203-4

Emancipation Act 1833

On 28 August, 1833, an Act of Imperial Parliament was passed that would end slavery throughout the British Empire. It was to take effect on 1 August, 1834, and it allowed for the gradual emancipation of the nearly 800,000 people of African decent held in bondage under the British flag. All slaves over the age of six were to become apprenticed to their owners for a period of up to six years after which they would be granted their total freedom. In contrast, slaves younger than six years could be indentured until their 21st birthday. Finally, slaveowners would be compensated for their monetary loss by the British government which had set aside 20,000 pounds to cover ths expense.

Note: For the terms of the Emancipation Act see Winks, The Blacks in Canada p. 111. Winks states that none of the 20,000 pounds of compensation money was distributed in what was then British North America; evidence, he believes of the virtual demise of slavery in Canada by 1834. He also finds no record of any slave becoming apprenticed or of children being bound out in the North American colonies.

Emancipation Day quickly became one of the highlights of the African-Canadian calendar all across Upper Canada. For example, the St. Catharines Standard reported on a parade and service held at a local church as early as 1835. These celebrations continued throughout the 1800s and by the early part of this century, the Emancipation Day festivities in the St. Catharines area were among the largest in the province.

1850 Fugitive Slave Law - U.S.

Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 created an atmosphere which made it easier for southern slave-owners to retrieve runaways from areas in the north that had little sympathy for the plight of those w ho profited from the fruits of human bondage. In effect, the Fugitive Slave Law worked to make the federal government a servant of the slave owners. First, United States marshals were instructed by the Act to fully support the slave-catchers and were empowered to impose severe penalties on those found aiding and abetting freedom-seekers. Secondly, the Fugitive Slave Law denied a person of colour both the right to trial by jury and the right to testify on their own behalf. However, there was more in the legislation that worked to bolster the property rights of slaveowners. For example, the law called for the appointment of special commissioners to judge a person’s slave status. These commissioners had to decide whether or not the accused fit the physical description of a certain runaway but they were not required to rule upon whether the accused was really a slave or a free person of colour.

Commissioners were also given little incentive to judge in favour of the accused since they were paid $10 for upholding the slaveholder’s request as opposed to $5 for giving a person their freedom. These circumstances meant that free and fugitive African-Americans alike had to live in constant fear of being accosted by unscrupulous slave catchers and being carried away to the south.

Owen A. Thomas, Niagara’s Freedom Trail P 54-55

Underground Railroad

Slaves had escaped since they were first brought to the Colonies, but it was not until the late 18th century that an organized system developed to help them. The first known record of this system appeared in a letter written by George Washington, dated May 12, 1786. In the letter Washington spoke of a slave who escaped from Alexandria, Virginia to Philadelphia and "whom a society of Quakers in the city, formed for such purposes, have attempted to liberate." By the late 18th century slavery had become morally unacceptable to more and more people, both in America and in Europe. Pennsylvania, with its large population of Quakers, adopted legislation in 1780 prohibiting the importation of slaves. Philadelphia became a centre of the anti-slavery movement, not only because of its many Quakers, but because it was so close to the slave states of Delaware and Maryland. Escaping slaves, even on foot, could reach Philadelphia quickly, receive help from the anti-slavery movement, then be on their way to freedom within days or even hours. After leaving Philadelphia, the road to freedom ran north. For many thousands of slaves the road ended at the banks of the Niagara River, separating the United States and the promised land of Canada. Freedom lay but a river`s width away.

McCaughan & Francis, Freedom was River`s Width Away

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 endangered all blacks, the legally manumitted as well as the runaways who had already fled from the slave states. During the next ten years the "underground railroad stretching from the southern United States to Canada truly came into its own. It is difficult to determine how many fled to Niagara as a result of the Fugitive Slave Act; the 10-year gap between census records straddles the period of greatest flight.

Because helping escaped slaves was illegal, there were few records kept of the escapees, nor is there an accurate count of the number who achieved freedom. Most estimates put the number of successful escapes at 100,000 or more. At least five major routes of the Underground Railroad led to Niagara County, New York, with branches of those routes ending in other communities along Lakes Erie and Ontario. With its proximity to Canada and freedom, New York was dotted with stations of the UGRR. Routes into New York came from Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Slaves travelled north from New York City through New England or turned west at Albany to cross Lake Ontario. If they continued further west or arrived from Pennsylvania, the fugitives could cross the Niagara River at Black Rock, Suspension Bridge or Lewiston.

New York was one of first states to oppose slavery, beginning in 1799. Slavery was finally banned by July ,1827. New York State had 274 anti-slavery societies which provided help for runaway slaves. Religion and politics also became factors, as Quakers and women's rights activists added abolition to their causes.

The Underground Railroad followed scores of routes, changing with the needs of the runaways and the threats of the pursuers. Major routes ran through Texas to Mexico, Florida to the Bahamas and Cuba and Ohio and Michigan to Canada. Refugees hid in attics, basements, barns and secret rooms of the Underground Railroad.

New York City was the first stop in New York State for many fugitives. Most followed the Hudson River Valley to Albany and Troy. North took them to Quebec. If they turned west, they were likely to get to Ontario from Oswego, Rochester, Lewiston and Suspension Bridge (Niagara Falls New York). From the Albany area, slaves could go north, heading for New England, but many moved west from station to station, often travelling near the waterways, roads and railroad tracks to make sure they were going in the right direction. St. Catharines was final stop for many escapees. There they were aided by the Rev. Hiram Wilson, who often came to the border at Niagara Falls or Buffalo to greet the fugitives.

Slavery and Freedom in Niagara - Power & Butler p47

An ardent abolitionist, Niagara farmer Colonel Peter Servos brought the Berry family all the way from Virginia to safety in Niagara on the Underground Railroad (Walter Kern, "Reclaiming Your Heritage. 1985 - booklet in Niagara Public Library)

Some came on their own – following the north star and crossing the river by ferry at Youngstown, Lewiston or Black Rock. Ferry captains generally sympathetic and often refused to charge for the trip. After 1854 some fugitives entered Canada by train on the new suspension bridge at Niagara Falls. Whatever the means of escape, fugitive slaves had to elude the slave catchers working for owners or bounty hunters seeking reward money – these men patrolled train stations, ferry docks, and river shores looking for black faces. Their presence often drove the runaways to hazard the fording of the river on any makeshift craft.

A Niagara Mail, newspaper article dated 10 August, 1853, tells of Ben Hockley, a slave from Tennessee , who made his way safely to Lewiston, always one step ahead of his pursuers. Although in sight of freedom he dared not take the ferry. He found a gate and launching it as a raft, attempted to float across the river. The swift current swept him out to the lake where the steamer Chief Justice Robinson rescued him.

Slavery and Freedom in Niagara - Power & Butler

Arrival in Niagara / Canada

People of colour were among the first settlers in the region. Some came as the slaves of white settlers. In a census undertaken in 1783, seven men and three women were named as slaves. However, other blacks came as free men and women, usually because of military service they had given Britain. For example, Richard Pierpoint fought in the Revolutionary War in Butler’s Rangers, a unit led by Colonel John Butler. As Loyalist veterans, these black soldiers were entitled to the same land grants as their white counterparts, an option that many of them readily exploited. Moreover, the existence of various petitions to the government demonstrates that these men were not the least bit afraid of exercising their right to make demands of the province’s leadership.

Owen A. Thomas, Niagara’s Freedom Trail p. 15

The Anti-slavery Act of 1793's ban on slave imports made American blacks free as soon as they crossed Niagara River – this good news travelled quickly once the War of 1812 ended. Many runaway slaves originally had hoped to reach the safety of the northern states where earlier legislation had abolished slavery, but these governments were finding that their swelling black population threatened the white electorate. State legislatures began to pass laws restricting the rights of black people, who turned into second-class citizens and became prey to violent assaults. A story in the Niagara Gleaner, on 13 November 1824, tells of a Providence, Rhode Island, gang of white men who had attacked a "coloured suburb, levelled eleven houses and destroyed goods and chattels"

Slavery and Freedom in Niagara, Power & Butler p47

Fugitive Slaves in Canada

I came here a year last spring, to escape the oppression of the laws upon the coloured men. After the fugitive slave bill was passed, a man came into Indianapolis, and claimed John Freeman, a free coloured man, an industrious respectable man, as his slave. He brought proofs enough. Freeman was kept in jail several weeks, – but at last it turned out that the slave sought was not Freeman, but a coloured man in Canada and F. was released. The danger of being taken as Freeman was, and suffering from a different decision, worked on my mind. I came away into Canada in consequence, as did many others, there were coloured people w ho could have testified to Freeman’s being free from his birth, but their oath would not be taken in Indiana.

In regard to Canada, I like the country, the soil, as well as any country I ever saw. I like the laws, which leave a man as much freedom as a man can have, – still there is prejudice here. The coloured people are trying to remove this by improving and educating themselves, and by industry, to show that they are a people who have minds, and that all they want is cultivating.

I do not know how many coloured people are here – but last summer five hundred and twenty-five were counted leaving the four churches.

First Drafts, JL Granatstein & Norman Hillmer P 67

A pathetic little story was told lately by a sergeant in the Volunteer Camp here: "I was a little boy living in the Red Barracks (Navy Hall) about 50 years ago, my father being a soldier, and I saw one day a party of eleven black people land at King’s wharf. They were all escaped slaves, men, women and children, and their action in landing was indelibly impressed on my memory. I shall never forget how they all knelt down, and kissing the ground, fervently thanked God, the tears streaming from their faces, that they were now in a free country.

Carnochan, The History of Niagara p 205-6

Ben Hockley:
In the Niagara Mail, August 10th, 1853, is found the following account of another slave reaching Niagara by a perilous land and lake journey. The steamer chief Justice Robinson picked up a coloured man about twelve miles from Niagara, floating on a raft made of a gate. He escaped from Tennessee and came to Lewiston, but was afraid to go on one of the steamers to cross and tried to cross the river on the gate, but the current being strong, he was drifted out into the lake. He said, "Thank the Lord, Massa, I am a free man now." The poor fellow must have been carried on his precarious support a distance of twenty miles. What must have been his thoughts on that broad and lonely field of waters?

Carnochan, The History of Niagara p 207

Other Arrivals

The period from the 1800's to the 1860s showed a large number of escaped slaves arriving in Niagara. Some actually were brought here by masters taking the waters of the local spas or viewing the wonder of Niagara Falls.

William Riley thus accompanied his master. His daughter, Mary Ann Guillan, writes: "My father came here in 1802. He was a slave. No, he did not run away. He came with his master all the way from Fredericksburg, Virginia, driving the carriage with six horses, his master bringing his money in bags, enough to last him; he came all that way to see the Falls, and stayed at Black Rock a while. My father was the coachman, and though his master was not cruel like some masters, my father was always afraid he might be sold off to work in the cotton fields, and a gentleman from Niagara, Mr. D., told him he could easily escape and come to Niagara where there were many colored people. So he hid in the corn fields ... At last his master had to go back without his coachman, although he waited a long time, and then my father came to Niagara." (Janet Carnochan, Slave Rescue in Niagara, 60 Years Ago"

Niagara Historical Society pamphlet 2 and 4 (1917), 10)

Blacks in the Military

After the Moseby Incident (see bounty hunters) Many were arrested and lodged in jail till, at the breaking out of the Rebellion, a coloured company was formed and the black prisoners were allowed to enlist. The coloured company did good service under Johnson Clench as captain, whom they adored.

Carnochan, The History of Niagara p 204-5

In the Chronicle for 1847: "Died at Port Robinson on New Year’s morn, after a lingering illness, borne with Christian fortitude, George Magill, Sergeant in Coloured Company, Inc. Militia. This exemplary young man turned out at a tender age in the cause of his country on the eruption of the late Rebellion, and had ever since been in the service of the Government. His funeral was attended by the principal people of the place, all of whom deplored his early fate."

Carnochan, The History of Niagara p 206

The Caroline Incident, The Rebellion of 1837

In 1837, the British colonies of Upper and Lower Canada (now Ontario and Quebec) faced rebellion. At issue was the structure of government and its control by a small group of aristocrats called the "Family Compact." Politics were divided into two groups: the "Reformers" who called for sweeping political change and the "Patriots" who supported the status quo. Most people of colour supported the Patriot side and Blacks played a large role in the event that signalled the end of the uprising. This occurrence is known as the "Caroline Incident."

The rebellion in Upper Canada began in the Toronto area and was led by William Lyon Mackenzie. Soon after its inception, African-Canadians came to the government’s aid. In a letter to the American Anti-Slavery Society, Mackenzie stated what he believed was the reason Blacks were loyal toward the government" ‘...I regret that an unfounded fear of a union with the United States on the part of the coloured population should have induced them to oppose reform and free institutions in this colony, whenever they have had the power to do so’ It would appear that most of the province’s Black population feared that any change in the political balance would impact negatively upon what they perceived as their already precarious situation. Because of this fact about 1000 of Upper Canada’s people of colour volunteered to defend the government. A company of 50 men was raised in Niagara under Thomas Runchey and James H . Sears.

After his rebels were dispersed at a place called Montgomery’s Tavern near Toronto, Mackenzie fled to Navy Island, which was above the Falls in the Niagara River and in American territory. There, his approximately 600 men were supplied by the American ship the Caroline with food and weapons. Sear’s Coloured Corps was posted on the bank of the River opposite the island.

On 29 December, 1837, Allan MacNab, an influential member of the Family Compact, ordered the capture of the Caroline and a small party of soldiers set out to take the ship. The steamer was set on fire. Five to six men were killed in the attack and the Caroline was swept over the Falls by the swift current.

The Caroline Incident is another example of the depth of loyalty people of colour felt toward British institutions of this period. These soldiers were prepared to defend any encroachment on their rights with their lives, a point not lost on the then Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, Sir Francis Bond Head.

Before the sinking of the Caroline, Bond Head visited the troops opposite Navy Island. Concerning the local Black population he later commented: "[Local Blacks] hastened as volunteers in wagon loads to the Niagara frontier to beg from me permission, that in the intended attack upon Navy Island they might be permitted to form the forlorn hope – in short they supplicated that they might be allowed to be foremost to defend the glorious institutions of Great Britain." There was no doubting the lengths to which Upper Canada’s black population would go to protect their rights as free men and women.

Owen A. Thomas, Niagara’s Freedom Trail p. 15

Battle of Queenston Heights

During the War of 1812 - Britain hard pressed to provide military protection to colony – Upper Canada was left to defend its frontiers almost entirely with locally recruited men. Most blacks of military age had by then been freed and were ready to assume the responsibilities of defending their homes. When American soldiers crossed the Detroit River and began the War of 1812, people of colour were quick to offer their services in the defense of this region. For many it was a way to show their affection for their new country while for others, it was seen as a necessary step in ensuring that they would never again have to live under the control of the American slave system. In the summer of 1812 a black Loyalist, Richard Pierpoint, petitioned the legislature of Upper Canada for the formation of an all-black unit to fight in the war. His offer was refused, and the task of raising a corps was handed instead to a white officer, Captain Robert Runchey, Sr. Although small in size (27 to 30 men excluding sergeants and officers) the fact that such a company was ever in existence is of historical importance. The Battle of Queenston Heights was one place where this unit saw action.

Although it is evident that the Coloured Corps was present at the Battle of Queenston Heights, exactly how it was involved is not entirely clear. It probably served as part of the reinforcements that arrived under Colonel Sheaffe after the death of Brock. It was this group that attacked the enemy from the rear, leading to the American surrender.. After the war they served as artificiers at Fort George until discharge in 1815.

Slavery and Freedom in Niagara, Power & Butler p44

Blacks in the Community

Anti-slavery legislation of 1793 aimed to eliminate the practice gradually over a period of years. As a result it created an interesting and unusual black heritage in Upper Canada. In Niagara there were people still legally recognized as slaves under the 1793 Act living side by side with those legally freed under that same act. Additionally, there were black Loyalists who either had been born free or had earned their freedom through service to the British Crown. Later to arrive were fugitive slaves drawn to the province that promised them freedom. Other families already freed from slavery came to homestead where liberty was guaranteed by law. They clustered together to form black communities. I n Niagara-on-the-Lake, the "Coloured village" was located south of William Street between King and Butler. In Niagara Falls the area was in the eastern part of Drummondville centering around Peer and Grey (BME moved there in 1850's). St. Catharines’ area was around North and Geneva Streets, and Fort Erie’s "Little Africa" was west of Bridgeburg.

It is not clear by 1800 how many slaves were in Niagara. Local farmers kept only a few slaves and even fewer records on them; church records (mainly St. Mark’s) mention a few slaves. Rev. Robert Addison scrupulously described skin colour in his records, but did not always note the status of the blacks he served. Some slaves, even if manumitted by wills or by payment, probably continued to work for their old masters. To all appearances they were still chained economically if not legally to the family, and it is possible that even a contemporary witness such as Rev. Addison could not identify who was free and who was not.

Slavery and Freedom in Niagara, Power & Butler p43

"Coloured" neighbourhoods resulted from the desire of the scattered black population to acquire land together for mutual support in a white-dominated and sometimes hostile environment. Established black settlers attracted newcomers and soon Niagara had its "coloured village". Once in Niagara, whether free born, manumitted or escaped, the black residents assumed the rights and responsibilities of full citizens. In the eyes of the British colonial government they were to be treated no differently from white settlers: all landowners, black and white paid taxes, voted in elections, charged their neighbours with misdemeanors and joined militia during times of war.

Slavery and Freedom in Niagara, Power & Butler p43

After the War of 1812, only a few slaves lived in Niagara. Most owners preferred to free their charges rather than provide for them, and slavery was becoming more distasteful in Upper Canada under the influence of a strong abolitionist movement in government and church circles. Some owners had already released their men to fight in the war. The arrival of new black immigrants and runaway slaves truly changed the character of the town – it quickly swelled ranks of local church prayer-meetings and school classes. New arrivals made their political desires known during elections.

Richard Pierpoint

In Niagara – Richard Pierpoint, a Black Loyalist, petitioned the government for land. He and other blacks sought adjoining land grants in order to establish an all-black community. Instead he was granted 200 acres in 1804 on Twelve Mile Creek [still known as "Dick’s Creek" in parts of St. Catharines, Richard Pierpoint’s land was located in the present-day Eastchester/Oakdale area], some distance from the Waters Brothers in Niagara, who were possibly his nearest black neighbours. Whether dissatisfied with the location or in need of money, he sold his lots in 1806 and later returned to Niagara.

Slavery and Freedom in Niagara, Power & Butler p43

Pierpoint submitted his third and final petition to the government in 1821:

"Your Excellency’s Petitioner is a Native of Bondon in Africa; that at the age of 16 years he was made a prisoner and sold as a slave; that he was conveyed to America about the year 1769 and sold to a British officer; that he served his Majesty during the American Revolutionary War in the corps called Butler’s Rangers; and again during the late American War in a Corps of Color raised on the Niagara Frontier. That Your Excellency’s Petitioner is now old and without property; that he finds it difficult to obtain a livelihood by his labor; that he is above all things desirous to return to this native country: he wishes it may be by affording him the means to proceed to England and from thence to a Settlement near Gambia or Senegal Rivers, frm whence he could return to Bondon."

Again the petition was refused; instead he was granted 100 acres along the Grand River in Garafraxa township where he died a few years later. A Loyalist who had served the Crown in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, he thus ended his days in the country he had fought for but had never called home.

Businesses

Construction

The Second Welland Canal was started in 1842, to be deeper and wider than the First to accommodate larger ships. Locks would also be made of limestone rather than wood, extending their lives. It was a major undertaking and once again hundreds of labourers would be needed. Although many of the workers on the Second Canal were of Irish descent, blacks were integrally involved with the project. For example, people of colour were employed as labourers, participating in the back-breaking job of digging. However, the greatest influence of blacks on the canal came from the establishment of a Black Corps in the area. Their job was to maintain peace among the workforce. Since working conditions were so terrible, this was often a very difficult proposition. Workers were exposed to the worst of weather, disease, infrequent pay and extremely hazardous working conditions. Occasionally, the situation would lead to clashes between black soldiers and Irish workers, the most famous of which was the Battle of Slabtown.

Owen A. Thomas, Niagara’s Freedom Trail p. 52

Tourism - Hotels and Hacks

The City of Niagara Falls has much to offer in the field of African-Canadian History. As in other areas of the Niagara Peninsula, Blacks were present from the earliest days of European settlement. By the early nineteenth century a small community of refugees had settled in Drummondville. As the community (which began to be called "Pollytown") developed, its residents began to put down more permanent roots.

Many people of colour in Niagara Falls were employed in the service sector, working as hotel waiters or tour guides. For example, the father of William Peyton Hubbard, an influential Black politician in the late 19th century Toronto, worked as a waiter at the Cataract Hotel in Niagara Falls. A number of foreign visitors who were taking some of the more dangerous tours under the Falls were shocked to find that their lives were entrusted to Black hands. One English gentlewoman commented that she was distressed to find "a negro guide of the most repulsive appearance" in charge of her trip through the Table Rock tunnels. Even so, such tension appears to have been added to the overall exhilaration of the experience.

Owen A. Thomas, Niagara’s Freedom Trail p. 15

Jobs were frequently menial and low-paying, largely due to lack of education. Most illiterate adults had manual jobs: farm labourer, teamster, servant, and did not need to read and write. Some members of the black community joined the Coloured Corps. Service jobs included waiting on tables in the popular spas of St. Catharines and tourist hotels of Niagara Falls. Employment must have been quite profitable; one traveller complained in the St. Catharines Journal: "Niagara is an expensive place. The coloured gentleman who does you a trifling service receives a shilling (and nothing less) not because he has earned it but because he is at Niagara!"

Power & Butler P 56-57

Politics - Burr Plato

Drummond Hill Cemetery became burial site for many prominent area Blacks. Perhaps the most remarkable was Burr Plato. Plato lived the early part of his life as a slave in Virginia. He managed to save approximately $50 while in bondage and in 1856 he and 7 other blacks fled the state for Canada. Plato and his group swam the Niagara River from Buffalo to Fort Erie, arriving in Canada with next to no money and only a bag of biscuits.

Over the next few years, Plato taught himself how to read and write while working as a porter and as a field hand in the Niagara Falls area. He was able to purchase a home on Stanley Avenue where he and his wife raised ten children. A well-respected member of the community, Plato became one of the few African-Canadians to hold public office in the last century. When he died in 1905 the loss was mourned by blacks and whites alike.

British Methodist Episcopal Church

In the Chronicle of 1844 is an advertisement: "Anniversary of African Emancipation to meet at public dinner, 1st August, on the battleground of Drummond Hill. Tickets, $1.00 for lady and gentleman. Committee, Isaac Thomas, H. Brooks, S. Scott, Henry Garritt, President."

Carnochan, The History of Niagara p 206

The Nathaniel Dett BME Church (& The Norval Johnson Heritage Library)

The church was often the core of community life during much of the history of Blacks in Canada. It not only served as the source for moral guidance but it was also the centre of social life. Plays, recitals, and many other events were all held in (or at least sponsored by) these houses of worship.

The Nathaniel Dett Memorial Chapel BME Church in Niagara Falls was no exception. Its history goes back to the early 19th century. With the growing numbers of Blacks coming from the United States after Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe passed an act that guaranteed the gradual demise of slavery in the colony, it became necessary for these freedom-seekers to organize themselves along religious lines.

Darius Durham was the first Methodist circuit preacher in the region of Niagara. By1812 congregations had formed in both Hamilton and St. Catharines. In1814 the Methodist Episcopal Church was created as a mission in Drummondville. The event was advertised as follows: "The Anniversary of African Emancipation to meet at public dinner, 1st August, on the battleground of Drummond Hill. Tickets, $1.00 for lady and gentleman. Committee, Isaac Thomas, H. Brooks, S. Scott, Henry Garritt, President." The fact that the meeting was held at the Lundy’s Lane battle site reflects the strong ties that these people of colour had developed for their new homeland. The newly-created mission was to be incorporated into the existing Hamilton-St. Catharines African Methodist Episcopal circuit.

In 1836, the faithful built a small structure at the corner of Portage Road and Murray Hill. Unfortunately, the site proved to be extremely cold in the winter and it quickly gained the somewhat sarcastic nickname, the "North Pole." Even so, it served as the house of worship until 1856 when the BME Church conference of Canada was created. One prominent member of the Niagara Falls Church, Oliver Parnall, donated property at the intersection of Peer and Grey Streets to the Church. The building was then moved from its original location to the site where it now stands. It is still resting on the logs that were used in its transportation.

In 1983, the Church was officially renamed in the honour of Robert Nathaniel Dett, a former member of the Niagara Falls Black community. Dett was born in Drummondville on 11 October, 1881. His father came from Reisterstown, near Baltimore, Maryland, and his mother was born and educated in Niagara Falls, her parents originally coming from Washington DC.

In 1893, the Dett family moved across the border to Niagara Falls, New York. An intelligent child, he was encouraged to explore music and literature by his mother. Dett became a student of the noted teacher, Professor Olier Willis Halsted of Lockport, New York in1902, and it was here that his true musical genius was recognized. By 1924 he had completed his doctorate of Music at Ohio’s Oberlin College.

Dett went on to teach at the Hampton Institute in Virginia. During the 1920's and 1930's he took African-American choirs to Europe where they received excellent reviews. Perhaps his most famous composition was a piece of sacred music entitled "Listen to the Lambs." At the time of his death he was director of Music of the Eastern Seaboard for the USO. His grave at Niagara Falls’ Fairview Cemetery is marked by a monument.

The Church also contains the Norval Johnson Heritage Library. Named in honour of a local woman who did a great deal to keep the Church alive, it contains a wealth of information pertaining to the regional history of Blacks.

Owen A. Thomas, Niagara’s Freedom Trail p. 17-19

Drummond Hill Cemetery

Near here the original BME mission was held, and the cemetery holds the remains of many members of the black community. Although it does not appear that black soldiers participated in the Battle of Lundy’s Lane, the area became an important site for local people of colour who linked their freedom to living under the British and not the American flag.

Owen A. Thomas, Niagara’s Freedom Trail p. 20

Schools

A reminiscence of her school life, given by a coloured woman, must not be forgotten. "The first school I went to was to a yellow man called Herbert Holmes – ‘Hubbard Holmes’ our people called him. Oh, he was severe. They were then, you know. But he was a fine man and had been educated by a gentleman in Nova Scotia. He used to drill the boys and when holiday time came he would march us all to a grocery kept by a black woman and treat us all to bull’s-eyes and gingerbread. I went to a black man upstairs in the schoolhouse of St. Andrew’s Church. The room was full, full of children. The benches were slabs with the flat side up and the bark of the tree down, with round sticks up in slanting for legs. The children all studied aloud and the one that made the most noise was the best scholar in those days. Then I went to a Miss Brooks, from Oberlin College, in 1838-9. She was sickly and died of consumption. Oh, what hard times she had with some of the boys, bad, rough ones. But Herbert Holmes was a hero. He died in trying to save a black man from slavery."

Carnochan, The History of Niagara p 139

Bounty Hunters and the Fugitive Salve Act

Prejudicial Treatment

After the War of 1812, full pay was disbursed to those present at the muster roll and to those sick in hospital. Deserters had their pay docked to cover only the days that they were in service. Apparently they had been promised six months’ severance pay, but they may never have received it according to one letter of complaint. When Sergeant William Thompson asked for his pay, Lieutenant Robertson told him that "he must go and look for it himself." In recognition of their services, the government did reward them, not with money but with something it had in abundance - land.

Oro Township

The black settlement at Oro Township was a project of Lieutenant Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland who saw it as a haven for fugitive slaves. The Oro settlement abutted road between Kempenfeldt Bay on Lake Simcoe and Penetanguishene Bay on Georgian Bay. There, unequal treatment was accorded to blacks and whites: black veterans who settled in Oro were granted only 100 acres, half the area allotted to their white comrades-in-arms. Each homesteader had to clear 10 acres and build a house before he could gain title to the land; of 23 black veterans only 19 stayed long enough to gain title.

Slavery and Freedom in Niagara, Power & Butler p44-45

Rebellion of 1837

Not long after the Moseby case, (se below) Sir Francis Bond Head, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, encountered not a riot but a rebellion. After Mackenzie’s rebellion, a province-wide alert brought out the regular army and hastily raised militia troops. Those jailed after the Moseby riot were released to fight the rebels in a newly raised Coloured Corps, as military authorities placed such faith in these prisoners who had recently been involved in an act of civil disobedience. These blacks had experienced slavery in a country that labelled itself "the land of liberty" and they mistrusted any reform movement that might introduce American-style democracy.

Mackenzie wrote: "I regret that an unwarranted fear of a union with the US on the part of the coloured population should have induced them to oppose reform and free institutions in this colony."

The men of the Coloured Corps served along the frontier until their term of service expired in August 1838. Then, shortly before receiving the orders for disbandment, their captain, Thomas Runchey, fled to the US, taking with him his company’s pay and leaving his commanding officer, Major Creighton to plead for more funds to calm the "highly excitable" men. These problems with their pay may have influenced the response of the coloured corps veterans when they were next asked to serve a few months later.

A strange story is told in an 1828 paper: "Kidnapping: A black man by the name of James Smith, in the employ of R. M. Long, of Clinton, was seized a few nights ago in bed by a band of slave-holding ruffians from the south and conveyed across the Niagara River, gagged and pinioned. He was kept concealed near Lewiston, in some old barracks, and while his old Virginian master, whom he recognized, was arranging for proceeding onward, he escaped, lay concealed for 48 hours without fire or food and actually swam the river in the night. The poor fellow landed on the fishing ground and was first discovered by a party of fisherman buffeting the chilly element and nearly exhausted."

The Moseby Affair

In the year 1837, a most remarkable occurrence is recorded, showing the firm loyalty to their brother in distress, of the escaped slaves living in Niagara and vicinity, 300 or 400 in number, showing also the kindness and sympathy of the white population. A slave named Solomon Moseby, who, to expedite his escape from Kentucky, had taken his master’s horse for the first part of his flight, had reached Niagara and was working for a farmer near the town. His master followed and demanded his return to the United States on the charge of horse stealing. Some such charge was often trumped up, true or false. Meanwhile, pending the decision of the magistrate, Moseby was lodged in Niagara jail, and the excitement was intense among his black brothers. Messages were sent out in all directions and soon several hundred blacks assembled round the jail, which they guarded for a fortnight or more, to prevent the giving up of the prisoner. Great sympathy was shown by the townspeople, as food and shelter had to be provided. Meanwhile Sir Francis Bond Head, the Governor, gave his consent; constables, bombardiers, sheriff, all were assembled, the wagon containing the prisoner and guards was driven out, the crowd of blacks, women as well as men, surrounded it. Moseby jumped out, and in some way his handcuffs were freed and he escaped into a cornfield. However, the Riot Act had been read, the order to fire given and the leader of the movement, an educated mulatto teacher and exhorter named Herbert Holmes, was shot, and another, named Green, stabbed. At the inquest the verdict of "homicide, whether justifiable or not", was given after 17 hours’ debate. The papers of the day variously described the event as mob law or a brave deed. The two heroes, for so we must call them, are buried in the Baptist graveyard, but no stone marks their grave. Many were arrested and lodged in jail till, at the breaking out of the Rebellion, a coloured company was formed and the black prisoners were allowed to enlist. The coloured company did good service under Johnson Clench as captain, whom they adored.

Carnochan, The History of Niagara p 204-5

The Moseby Affair report in Power & Butler Slavery and Freedom in Niagara states Solomon Moseby was given a pass and a horse by his master in Kentucky, in the spring of 1837, to run a message to another planter. The master followed his trail from Kentucky and located him in Niagara, but then went back to Kentucky. Moseby was charged in absentia in a Kentucky court with horse stealing. Finding the former slave guilty, the court issued a warrant for his arrest. Armed with legal papers, the owner returned to Upper Canada to demand Moseby’s extradition.

Sir Francis Bond Head, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, placed Moseby in the local jail at the Niagara courthouse while he pondered the case. Local residents were galvanized into a frenzy of support for Moseby. Captain Hugh Eccles gathered 117 signatures of white Niagara citizens for a petition which expressed their opinion that "Neither morally nor legally can a slave be guilty of the offense charged against him; not being a free agent ... (and) it will become a precedent whereby no runaway slave will either now or henceforth be safe in a British colony." Seventeen black residents also submitted a petition, claiming the master "exacted his sweat with stripes that mercy with a bleeding heart weeps when she sees inflicted on a beast."

The petitions didn’t have any effect: Bond Head’s mind is made up. He wrote: "this land of liberty cannot be made an asylum for the guilty of any colour", and orders Sheriff McLeod to return the prisoner to American authorities.

Herbert Holmes, a local white preacher and teacher, put out a call all over the peninsula and from 200 to 300 blacks gathered in Niagara to keep vigil at the jail, hoping to thwart attempts to remove Moseby. Some of the protesters found shelter in taverns and local black homes, others erected makeshift huts around the courthouse, and sympathetic white residents, while not actively participating in the blockade, encouraged it by donating food.

Slavery and Freedom in Niagara, Power & Butler p49-52

Once across the river the fugitives presumed themselves to be free and safe, for in their minds and in those of the Canadian officials they were innocent victims fleeing from the criminal institution of slavery, but not all fugitives from slavery from slavery were innocent. Some had committed crimes before their arrival here. Should Canada shelter a criminal just because he had been a slave? There was no decisive answer. The 1833 act abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire gave the Lieutenant Governor the power to decide each case individually. A slave could not be returned, however, unless he had committed a crime serious enough that under Canadian law he would have been punished with death, corporal punishment, or imprisonment with hard labour.

Further Notes

True Bands were coloured persons of both sexes who associated for their own improvement, general interest in each other’s welfare, etc. See Narratives p. 236. They were first organized in Malden, September, 1854 , with 600 members.

"Now 14 True Bands are organized in various sections of Canada West". Wilma says she doesn’t know of one here – Niagara Falls tended to be an integrated community from the start, with the neighbourhood around the church where many of the black families settled. As with most ethnic communities, people started out in the coloured neighbourhood, but dispersed after a time.

According to Robert Plummer, most of the south side of Peer Street had black families, especially from about Ross Street down. Some of the houses on the north side were not black.

THE REV. THOMAS CLEMENT OLIVER, MA. - 1818 - 1900

The first minister of the British Methodist Episcopal Church in Niagara Falls (Drummondville) was the Rev. Tomas Clement Oliver, who was born in Salem, New Jersey, April 18, 1818, and died in Niagara Falls, Ontario, on February 11, 1900.

He was ordained into the B.M.E. Conference of Canada at the General Conference in July,1887, held in St. Catharines. He pastored at Windsor, Toronto, Chatham and Guelph before coming to Niagara Falls. Prior to coming to Canada, he pastored at many churches in the United States.

Rev. Oliver and his father were conductors on the Underground Railroad which he states had been going on long before he was born and carried on to the beginning of the Civil War.

He is buried in the Drummond Hill Cemetery in Niagara Falls along with his wife, Elizabeth, who followed in death five months later.

Bibliography

Power, Michael and Butler, Nancy, Slavery and Freedom in Niagara, Niagara Historical Society 1993

Thonas, Owen A., Niagara`s Freedom Trail, Region Niagara Tourist Council, 1995

Meyler, Peter and Meyler, David, A Stolen Life, Searching for Richard Pierpoint, Natural Heritage Books: Toronto, 1999

Carnochan, Janet, History of Niagara, William Briggs: Toronto, 1914

Drew, Benjamin, The Narratives of Fugitive Slaves, Prospero: Toronto, 2000

McCaughan, Patricia and Francis, Mark, `Freedom was River`s Width Away,`` Niagara Gazette Supplement, August 6, 1986