|
"Canada is not merely a neighbor of Negroes. Deep in our history of struggle for freedom, Canada was the North Star." — Martin Luther King Jr., 1967
In the history of Canada, King's words would not have always held true and, indeed, even well into the twentieth century, Canada's record on race relations has been spotty. Slavery was not officially abolished in the colonies of the British Empire, Canada among them, until 1834.
As early as 1608, black slaves were arriving in Canada, before even the British. The first recorded slave purchase in New France, as Canada was then called, was an eight-year old boy from Madagascar in 1628. Records indicate more than 1000 slaves were in the country by 1759.
In 1783 and subsequent years, a major influx occurred, some arriving as free Loyalists who had sided with the British during the American Revolution and others being brought by the white Loyalists. Such was the influx that in 1783 one part of the country, Upper Canada, passed legislation prohibiting immigrants from bringing in slaves and, as important, freed all slaves over the age of twenty-five. This was the first abolitionist legislation in the British Empire.
Again, immediately after the War of 1812 another 2000 blacks crossed into Canada. Perhaps as a result, more and more escaping slaves began trickling into Canada.
But there was a downside. The British had promised land grants to black immigrants. Many did not receive land and those that did received poor quality land. Consequently, many of these black Loyalists eventually emigrated to Sierra Leone.
Freed slaves and escaped slaves in Canada became a beacon for the many who followed the developing "official" Underground Railway(s) after 1834, particularly after 1850 when the Fugitive Slave Act allowed pursuit of escaped slaves into the northern free states.
The Underground Railway was actually several networks and routes with very little formal coordination. Except rarely, for example, an agent in Kansas would not know an agent in Vermont or Michigan. However, to date, researchers have been able to identify more than 3000 agents in twenty-one states and five Canadian provinces. In sum, an estimated 30,000 escaped slaves were settled in Canada during a twenty-year period.
Because of its clandestine nature, stories of traveling the Underground Railway have been communicated primarily as oral history. Of facts that have stood the test of time, the certainty of safe refuge in Canada is clear. Abolitionist John Brown used a base in Canada to plan the raid on Harper's Ferry, and at least one Canadian black, Osborne Anderson, accompanied him on the famous raid. As a footnote, of six followers who escaped the raid, five eventually found refuge back in Canada.
Legendary Underground Railway "conductor", Harriet Tubman, made at least eleven trips to Canada, bringing across the border with her more than 300 escaped slaves. Overall, Harriet Tubman made nineteen trips, especially notable because she traveled into the southern slave states to gather escapees. Accordingly, the "line" she traveled was probably responsible for transporting many more than the known 300.
The networks of the Underground Railway were not created overnight in reaction to legislative change. However, tightening of restrictions in the United States and almost simultaneous relaxation of restrictions in Canada did create a climate favorable to increased abolition, a necessary precondition for the success of the Railway.
Most of the major border crossings were land routes. From Vermont access to Quebec was overland and to this day rumors abound of cemeteries in Quebec Eastern Townships and Montreal area where ex-slaves are interred. The Detroit-Windsor connection into southern Ontario was likely the most used of the crossings, although other routes, such as where the St. Lawrence River narrows between New York State and Ontario and the Niagara River/Falls area were also used. Out of Norfolk, Virginia was a line known as the "whale route', which ended in Canada's Maritime provinces but sometimes transported fugitives by ship as far as Montreal.
Black re-settlement in Canada was generally supported by local citizens. Jobs were plentiful in the farm communities close to Windsor. In Dresden, Ontario in 1841, the self-help Dawn Settlement was formed to assist these re-settlement efforts. In 1853, the "Provincial Freeman" newspaper came off the printing presses in Chatham, Ontario. The Freeman, published and edited by Mary Ann Shadd, was not only Canada's first black newspaper, it was also the first newspaper in North America to be edited by a woman.
The United States-Canada border has a remarkable history of porosity. During the Civil War, Canada was the jumping off point for at least two abortive Confederate attacks into the northern states. During the Prohibition years, liquor flowed southward across it, making more than one Canadian fortune. During the Vietnam War, draft evaders flowed in the other direction. Smuggling in one form or another still troubles border officials on both sides of the line. Perhaps the border's porosity was never better exploited than during the years of the Underground Railway and those preceding it.
|
| |
