Black Slavery in the Maritimes

Many thousands of black people were enslaved in the Maritimes, Quebec, and Upper Canada between the seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries. It is not surprising that slavery played a part in Canadian history, but it is startling that it has not received widespread attention from the general Canadian public and historians alike. This sourcebook collects a variety of documents, including runaway slave advertisements, letters, court cases, and official government documents, offering readers an opportunity to explore the contours of black slavery in the Maritimes and revise their broader understanding of Canadian history.

Harvey Amani Whitfield is Professor of United States and Canadian history at the University of Vermont. His previous books include North to Bondage: Loyalist Slavery in the Maritimes, Blacks on the Border: The Black Refugees in British North America 1815-1860, and The Problem of Slavery in Early Vermont 1777-1810.