Among the Loyalists who were transported to the shores of New Brunswick by the British after their defeat by revolutionary Americans were several hundred African Americans. Like their counterparts who went to what is now Nova Scotia, among this group were formerly enslaved men, women and children who had been granted their freedom in exchange for joining the British side during the revolutionary war.

In the colony that soon became New Brunswick, slavery was still legal. Many African American Loyalists had to become indentured labourers to survive in this new situation. Many others took up the opportunity offered them in 1791 to move yet again, this time to Sierra Leone in Africa where many Black Loyalists established a new colony on the coast of Africa where they lived free of slavery.

The stories of New Brunswicks Black Loyalists are captured in the brief biographies of eight individuals—men, women and youths—presented by author Stephen Davidson. Through their experiences a picture emerges of the narrow limits to the freedom which the Black Loyalists were able to experience in a predominantly white and highly racist colony.

STEPHEN DAVIDSON, an educator with over three decades of experience, has taught in Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and the Czech Republic. As a writer, historian, and consultant, Stephen has authored over 600 articles related to the United Empire Loyalists and Loyalist history, and has served as Contributor and Consultant for numerous magazines, genealogical publications and newspapers. He is the author of The Burdens of Loyalty and a contributor to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Stephen lives in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia

Stephen Davidson's profile page

"Davidson shows considerable skill in reconstructing the lives of these nine individuals using fragmentary documents. Most Black loyalists and enslaved people did not leave behind memoirs, diaries, or correspondences...This book is a good “starting point” in “recovering the long-neglected stories of these founding settlers of Canada'."

Journal of New Brunswick Studies