What Challenges Did The Black Loyalists Face While Trying To Settle In British North America?
| Quick Answer: While Trying To Settle In British North America, Black Loyalists Had To Face These Major Challenges Below:
1. First of All, Though After The Revolutionary War, They Became Free People; But Still, They Faced Discrimination & Hostility From The Whites. Even In The New Location, They Found No Major Change In The Whites’ Behaviour Towards Them. In Some Cases, Some of Them Were Re-Captured And Sold For Slavery Again. 2. After The Revolution, The Black Loyalists (Previously Slaves) Were Transformed Into Wage Based Laborers. But The Main Problem Was, The Wage They Got For Their Work Was Much Lower Than Fulfilling Their Basic Needs. Due To Lack of Education, These People Were Being Financially Exploited A Lot By The Whites. 3. The Third Biggest Challenge They Faced Was The Unfavorable Climate of Canada. Though, British Authority Successfully Relocated Black Loyalists As They Promised; But The Cold Climate of Canada Did Not Suit These Black People At All. Although, Not All Blacks Were Relocated In British Canada; Some Also Resettled In Jamaica, England, And African Continent. 4. The Fourth Challenge Was, These People Were Very Poor, Who Had Even No Money. In This Case, They Faced Difficulties In Making Homes For Shelter, Buying Foods, And Solving Land Related Legal Issues. |
Description – What Challenges Did The Black Loyalists Face While Trying To Settle In British North America?
The Black loyalists had to face many challenges while trying to settle in British North America or British Canada.
But before we understand their problems, we need to learn why they had to settle in that region.
The story beings with the Revolutionary War of the 13 colonies’ independence.
During the Revolutionary War, British authority encouraged patriot slaveholders’ Black slaves to leave their masters and join the British Royal forces.
The British authority wondered that by doing this, their weight in the War would become heavier.
Hence, to make this propaganda successful, they also promised the slaves freedom.
Dunmore’s Proclamation was a significant initiative for this propaganda.
But how it encouraged them to join the war?
Actually, through this proclamation, the British authority sent a proposal to the Black slaves.
The proposal was – if they would leave their masters (Mainly patriots) and join the British army in the war, the authority would help them get freedom from their masters.
Part 2
To get freedom from their masters, many thousands of Black slaves joined the British forces and became loyalists.
According to experts, 80,000 to 100,000 Blacks attempt to run away from plantations after Dunmore’s proclamation.
However, as the English authority hoped, it did not create such a significant effect on revolutionaries because those slaves were not trained for combat.
After the war in 1781, those black people became free from their masters.
But at the same time, the harassment of the patriots also started increasing on them.
Therefore, loyalists, including Blacks and Whites, started leaving 13 colonies and moved towards British Canada’s various regions.
Between 1783 to 1785, many thousands of free Black loyalists left the newly born United States and moved to Canada’s Nova Scotia province.
Though they were able to get freedom from their masters, but in their new place, they had to face so many problems.
Those problems were such as:
- Most of the white people were still hostile and discriminatory towards them.
- Making them work more for fewer wages
- Lack of getting good places to live in
- And more other issues.
Now, I hope you have got your answer on what challenges did the Black loyalists faced while trying to settle in the new location of British North America.
