"But almost all of those representations coming out of Hollywood represent American South slavery." "The more recent ones are quite accurate in terms of the horrific and brutal nature of slavery," she said. She says when asked what they know about transatlantic slavery and how they came to know it, most people will cite Hollywood films such as Lincoln, Amistad, 12 Years a Slave, and Django Unchained. She said while it might surprise some that such an institute would be housed at an art school, art is actually the key to helping people understand this country's specific history with slavery. "It's really a moment for us to think about what slavery was and what slavery was in Canada," she said in an interview. Newly created Institute for the Study of Canadian SlaveryĬharmaine Nelson, professor of art history and founding director of the newly created Institute for the Study of Canadian Slavery at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, says it's important to mark Emancipation Day. The legislation was introduced a number of times but never passed. "And they petitioned the House of Assembly for legislation that would give legal status or legal framework in which they could continue to exercise what they saw as their property rights." "The slave holders in Nova Scotia realized that their situation was becoming increasingly eroded by the courts," said MacLeod. The same petition shows slave owners signed their names and entered the number of slaves they owned. They signed their names, complete with the number of slaves they owned. It shows that in 1807, a group of slave owners, mostly Loyalists from Annapolis County who had been given some guarantees by the British Empire that they could bring their "property" with them, pushed back against the court decisions. He points to a petition in the public collection. "But the legislature also did not go to the step of banning it either," he said. ![]() MacLeod says it was likely because there was no legal framework to reinforce slavery. Some historians have gone so far as to call them abolitionists. ![]() Manager and archivist John MacLeod says two Nova Scotia judges in particular, Chief Justice Sampson Salter Blowers and Chief Justice Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange, seemed to find ways to rule in favour of freedom over continued slave ownership when cases were before them in the early 1800s. In 1750, there were about 400 slaves among Halifax's population of 3,000. "I didn't know that people in Yarmouth had slaves, so that was a big eye-opener for me," said Robart-Johnson, who stumbled upon the files about Jude while researching her own genealogy 28 years ago.Ī newspaper clipping from June 1800 at the Nova Scotia Archives advertises a young girl for sale. ![]() Samuel Andrews, a Loyalist leader who came to Nova Scotia from North Carolina in 1785. Records show Jude was brought to Nova Scotia from New Jersey by her master, Frances Wood, when she was nine years old. Robart-Johnson says she became so obsessed with Jude's story, she released a second book, a work of historical fiction titled Jude and Diana, chronicling the lives of Jude and her sister. Until now, Ontario has been the only province to mark the occasion, but this year members of Parliament voted to designate it nationwide. The day is also being observed provincially in Nova Scotia for the first time. ![]() 1, 1834, when the British Empire abolished slavery, freeing around 800,000 people of African descent throughout the British colonies, including parts of what is now known as Canada. (Brian MacKay/CBC)Įmancipation Day recognizes Aug. Author Sharon Robart-Johnson holds a copy of her second book, Jude and Diana, at the Yarmouth County Museum in southwestern Nova Scotia.
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