Chapter 1

The first Black person in Nova Scotia arrived with the founding of Port Royal in 1605.[1] Black people were then brought as slaves to Nova Scotia during the founding of Louisbourg and Halifax. The first major migration of Blacks to Nova Scotia happened during the American Revolution. African Americans who escaped to the British during the American Revolutionary War became the first settlement of Black Nova Scotians and Black Canadians. Other Black Loyalists were transported to settlements in several islands in the West Indies and some to London. Recorded in 1783, this 150-page document is the only one to have recorded Black Americans in a large, detailed scope of work.