SLAVERY IN CANADA ABOLISHED ON AUGUST 1-1834

Murphy Browne © July 30-2018

SLAVERY IN CANADA ABOLISHED ON AUGUST 1-1834

August 1^st is recognized as Emancipation Day by the descendants of Africans who were enslaved by the British (English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh.) Africans were enslaved by White men and women from every European tribe but at one time the inhabitants of the British Isles dominated the “slave trade.” The enslavement of Africans in Canada ended on August 1-1834 when slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire. The documented enslavement of Africans in Canada began in 1628 with the sale of a six-year-old boy who was kidnapped from the African continent and sold in "New France." The child was renamed Olivier LeJeune by the French who bought him from the British pirate David Kirke. Slavery in Canada lasted approximately 206 years and was abolished 184 years ago. In 2018 the descendants of enslaved Africans in Canada have been free 22 years less than slavery lasted!

The enslavement of Africans in Canada began in Quebec when the French in “New France/Lower Canada” enslaved a 6-year-old African child. In 1685 France’s Louis XIV documented in his “Code Noir” (Black Code) the rules that the French enslavers were bound to follow including: “The children who will be born of marriage between slaves will be slaves and will belong to the master of the women slaves, and not to those of their husband, if the husband and the wife have different masters. The slave who will have struck his master or the wife of his master, his mistress or their children to bring blood, or in the face, will be punished with death.” The enslavement of Africans was legitimized by the French monarchy. The British brought enslaved Africans with them (1760) and continued and expanded the enslavement of Africans in Canada.

The narrative of enslaved Africans fleeing slavery in America to “freedom” in Canada dominates any discussion of slavery. The stories of enslaved Africans in Canada fleeing to “freedom” in Vermont, USA, beginning in 1777 when Vermont abolished slavery, is not as well known. Admittedly there was an unsuccessful attempt by John Graves Simcoe in 1793 to abolish slavery in “Upper Canada.” Simcoe’s attempt to abolish slavery in “Upper Canada” (Ontario) in 1793 was unsuccessful because many influential residents of the province were slave holders. Simcoe’s attempt to abolish slavery was made after he was told of the brutal beating and sale of enslaved African woman Chloe Cooley on March 14-1793. The resulting "Act to Limit Slavery" did not free any enslaved African in Canada; only prevented the importing of enslaved Africans. Influential slave holders like William Jarvis ensured that enslaved Africans living in Canada remained in bondage.

Peter Russell (born in Cork, Ireland) who became the administrator of Upper Canada (July 1796) after Simcoe left, was another of the infamous slaveholders who ensured that Africans remained enslaved. In a February 10, 1806 “Upper Canada” publication Russell advertised for sale a 40-year-old enslaved African woman Peggy Pompadour and her 15-year-old son Jupiter. Russell and his sister Elizabeth Russell “owned” Peggy, her son Jupiter and her two younger daughters Amy and Milly. The Russells seem to have only the Pompadour family enslaved but others enslaved large numbers of Africans. Matthew Elliot (born in Donegal County, Ireland) had 60 enslaved Africans working on his 4,000 acres of land in Upper Canada (Amherstburg.)

During the 206 years between 1628 and August 1-1834, enslaved Africans were owned by White people from all levels of society in Canada, including bishops, blacksmiths, carpenters, merchants, military officers, priests, surgeons, tailors and nuns. Africans were enslaved across Canada, including New Brunswick, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Ontario. In 1960 when White Canadian historian, Marcel Trudel, published “L’esclavage au Canada Français histoire et conditions de l’esclavage/Canada's Forgotten Slaves: Two Hundred Years of Bondage” it was considered so controversial that Trudel was forced to leave Quebec’s Laval University and move to the University of Ottawa. In her 2010 published “Emancipation Day: Celebrating Freedom in Canada,” African Canadian author Natasha Henry has researched and written about the history of August 1^st celebrations throughout Canada.

Since the abolition of slavery in Canada on August 1-1834 the descendants of enslaved Africans have celebrated August 1^st as Emancipation Day. On Tuesday, July 31-2018 participants in the annual “Underground Freedom Train Ride/Emancipation Day Celebration” will gather at 11:30 p.m. at Union Station. The 6^th annual “Freedom Train Ride” hosted by A Different Booklist bookstore leaves Union Station at 11:45 p.m. to arrive at Sheppard West subway station at 12:10 a.m. on August 1-2018. The celebration begins at Union Station on July 31^st and concludes on August 1^st at Sheppard West subway station. August 1^st is Emancipation Day in Canada.

Murphy Browne © July 30-2018

In 1852 while Africans in America were held in slavery, African American abolitionist/activist Frederick Douglass was invited to speak at a July 4, 1852, celebration in Rochester, N.Y. As the keynote speaker for the American Independence Day celebration Frederick Douglass famously asked the white audience: “Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day?” He bravely and honestly informed them: “This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.”

Murphy Browne © Monday, February 17, 2014

ABOLITIONIST FREDERICK DOUGLASS FEBRUARY 14, 1818 - FEBRUARY 20, 1895

“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.”

Excerpt from speech given by Frederick Douglass on July 5, 1852, Douglass gave a speech at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence held at Rochester's Corinthian Hall.

In his 2010 published book “The State of the American Mind: Stupor and Pathetic Docility Volume II” African professor Amechi Okolo has included this information about Douglass’ July 5, 1852 speech: “On July 5, 1852, Douglass gave a speech at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, held at Rochester's Corinthian Hall. It was biting oratory, in which the speaker told his audience, "This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn." And he asked them, "Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day?"”

During this month of February when many acknowledge/celebrate the contributions, culture and history of Africans there are several events around and about the city, the province and the country. At these events oftentimes Africans are invited to speak. I say “oftentimes” because even though this is supposed to be Black History Month/African History Month/African Liberation Month you will find that sometimes the speaker can by no stretch of the imagination be described as African or Black. Take for instance Tim Wise a White man who is considered an authority on anti-racism and is invited to speak at Black History Month events. On such occasions I am reminded of Fredrick Douglass’ July 5, 1852 speech. In that speech Douglass took to task the White people who were so insensitive as to invite a formerly enslaved African to hopefully give a glowing speech in praise of American Independence when slavery as an institution was very much a part of the American society. Similarly it is at least insensitive to invite a White person who would never have experienced what it is to be an African living in a White supremacist culture to speak at a Black History Month event.

Black History Month/African History Month/African Liberation Month began as Negro History Week in 1926. This month was chosen by Carter Godwin Woodson because he wanted to honour Frederick Douglass who chose February 14 as his birth date. Douglass like many other enslaved Africans did not have their birth date documented. Douglass chose February 14 because he remembered his mother referring to him as her little “Valentine.” Douglass thought that he was born on February 14, 1818 but there is no documentation of his birth. In his autobiography Douglass wrote: “I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton in Talbot county, Maryland. I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it. By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant. I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday. They seldom come nearer to it than planting-time, harvest-time, cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time.” Douglass wrote in his autobiography that he only saw his mother about four or five times in his life before she transitioned when he was 7 years old. She was sold when he was an infant and would walk about 12 miles to see her child because she was sold to people who lived in the same area. Many enslaved Africans never saw their children or other relatives once they were sold. In “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself” which was first published in 1845 Douglass wrote: “It is a common custom, in the part of Maryland from which I ran away, to part children from their mothers at a very early age. Frequently, before the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it, and hired out on some farm a considerable distance off, and the child is placed under the care of an old woman, too old for field labor.”

In his autobiography Douglass wrote about the horrors of slavery he had witnessed as a child as an adult. Douglass wrote about witnessing his aunt being brutalized by the White man who enslaved many of his relatives: “He was a cruel man, hardened by a long life of slaveholding. He would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping a slave. I have often been awakened at the dawn of day by the most heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood. No words, no tears, no prayers, from his gory victim, seemed to move his iron heart from its bloody purpose. The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest. He would whip her to make her scream, and whip her to make her hush; and not until overcome by fatigue, would he cease to swing the blood-clotted cowskin.” Douglass’ autobiography was used by abolitionists and the anti-slavery movement in which he was very actively involved. He is credited with playing a major role in the eventual abolition of slavery in the USA.

Douglass (February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an abolitionist, human rights and women’s rights advocate. He was definitely a man before his time. When the history of the abolition movement is written the heroes are invariably White. Not surprising as Chinua Achebe, the late Igbo author is famous for this quote: “Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” Fortunately Douglass wrote his autobiography and much of his work is archived at the American Library of Congress. It is important for us to know our history not only during February but very day. Because our names and languages were taken away from us during the centuries of enslavement many Africans in the Diaspora are lost and disconnected. Now is a good time to start reconnecting. Attend African History events and read, read, read!!

Murphy Browne © Monday, February 17, 2014