{"id":181,"date":"2018-03-18T20:55:31","date_gmt":"2018-03-18T20:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/?post_type=chapter&p=181"},"modified":"2019-06-04T16:08:06","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T16:08:06","slug":"introduction-7","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/chapter\/introduction-7\/","title":{"raw":"Introduction","rendered":"Introduction"},"content":{"raw":"
\"\"<\/a><\/center>\r\n

\r\nAfrican Nova Scotian By Captain William Booth, 1788 (Wikimedia Commons)<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\nIn 1775, John Murray, the Earl of Dunmore and governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation to his colony. In it he declared \u201call indentured Servants, Negroes, or others, (appertaining to Rebels,) free that are able and willing to bear Arms, they joining His MAJESTY\u2019S Troops as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing this Colony to a proper Sense of their Duty.\u201d The War of Independence had just begun and Britain needed all the help it could get to fight the troops of the Continental Congress. Shortly after Dunmore\u2019s Proclamation, the British extended this opportunity for freedom throughout their soon-to-be former colonies. By war\u2019s end, in 1783, nearly 3,500 people had seized this opportunity. With Britain\u2019s loss, these now refugees were evacuated to Nova Scotia where they came to be known as \u201cBlack Loyalists.\u201d The enduring institution of slavery and poor treatment there, however, led nearly half to leave again, founding the new free colony of Sierra Leone in west Africa.\r\n\r\nThis module brings together two journal articles with divergent perspectives about whether the term \u201cloyalist\u201d is the best way to conceive of these migrants. In \u201cThe Black Loyalist Myth in Atlantic Canada\u201d Barry Cahill suggests that many of these people decided to join the British cause not because they were loyal to the British crown but rather because they sought to flee their captivity. In \u201cMyth, History and Revisionism,\u201d James St. G. Walker responds to Cahill\u2019s claims suggesting that the term \u201cloyalist\u201d is not nearly as ahistorical as Cahill suggests.\r\n

Interpretations<\/h3>\r\n
    \r\n \t
  1. Barry Cahill, \u201cThe Black Loyalist Myth in Atlantic Canada,\u201d Acadiensis, vol. 29 no. 1 (Autumn 1999): 76-87.<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. James St. G. Walker, \u201cMyth, History and Revisionism: The Black Loyalists Revisited,\u201d Acadiensis, vol. 29 no. 1 (Autumn 1999): 88-105.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","rendered":"
    \"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

    \nAfrican Nova Scotian By Captain William Booth, 1788 (Wikimedia Commons)<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n

    In 1775, John Murray, the Earl of Dunmore and governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation to his colony. In it he declared \u201call indentured Servants, Negroes, or others, (appertaining to Rebels,) free that are able and willing to bear Arms, they joining His MAJESTY\u2019S Troops as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing this Colony to a proper Sense of their Duty.\u201d The War of Independence had just begun and Britain needed all the help it could get to fight the troops of the Continental Congress. Shortly after Dunmore\u2019s Proclamation, the British extended this opportunity for freedom throughout their soon-to-be former colonies. By war\u2019s end, in 1783, nearly 3,500 people had seized this opportunity. With Britain\u2019s loss, these now refugees were evacuated to Nova Scotia where they came to be known as \u201cBlack Loyalists.\u201d The enduring institution of slavery and poor treatment there, however, led nearly half to leave again, founding the new free colony of Sierra Leone in west Africa.<\/p>\n

    This module brings together two journal articles with divergent perspectives about whether the term \u201cloyalist\u201d is the best way to conceive of these migrants. In \u201cThe Black Loyalist Myth in Atlantic Canada\u201d Barry Cahill suggests that many of these people decided to join the British cause not because they were loyal to the British crown but rather because they sought to flee their captivity. In \u201cMyth, History and Revisionism,\u201d James St. G. Walker responds to Cahill\u2019s claims suggesting that the term \u201cloyalist\u201d is not nearly as ahistorical as Cahill suggests.<\/p>\n

    Interpretations<\/h3>\n
      \n
    1. Barry Cahill, \u201cThe Black Loyalist Myth in Atlantic Canada,\u201d Acadiensis, vol. 29 no. 1 (Autumn 1999): 76-87.<\/li>\n
    2. James St. G. Walker, \u201cMyth, History and Revisionism: The Black Loyalists Revisited,\u201d Acadiensis, vol. 29 no. 1 (Autumn 1999): 88-105.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"part":180,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/181"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1259,"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/181\/revisions\/1259"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/180"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/181\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=181"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=181"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}