British Evacuate Black Loyalists Freed

In 1783, as the American Revolutionary War ended, British commanders in New York chose to honor their wartime promise of freedom to enslaved people who had joined them. The Treaty of Paris required the return of all property, including escaped slaves, but British commander Sir Guy Carleton refused to hand these Black Loyalists back to American enslavers. Instead, officials compiled the Book of Negroes, a detailed register of thousands of men, women, and children who had gained their freedom. To prevent their seizure and re-enslavement in the new United States, they evacuated them by ship to Nova Scotia and other British territories.

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