The Black Diaspora: Black Appalachians, Canadian Blacks and Descendants from the African Continent

Fish to Black Slaves: The Canadian Maritimes and African Slave Trade May 26 – June 1 | Regina, Saskatchewan, https://www.congress2018.ca/ May 27 – May 28 | 2018 Annual Meeting of the Black Canadian Studies Association, https://www.congress2018.ca/sites/default/files/association/2018/04/309-bcsa-bcsa-2018.04.05-final.pdf Session: Slavery in Canada Time: 2:30pm – 4:00pm, Location: ED 179 •Nii Tawiah Okurajah Koney, Post--Traumatic Slave Syndrome: Black Canadian Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing, 21 st Century Perspectives •Wilburn Hayden, Jr., Fish to Black Slaves: The Canadian Maritimes and African Slave Trade •Kyla Murray, Canada and the Commemoration of a Blighted History

Black slavery was as much a part of Canadian history as the often-cited record of the Underground Railroad. Slavery, within the larger context of colonization, was evident in all European settlements in the Western Hemisphere nations that formed the countries of the present.    This table lists the 42 current Western Hemisphere nations and their dates for abolishing slavery. Every country in the Western Hemisphere enslaved black people.   

A review of ships’ passengers and general cargo lists supports the historical record of St. John’s in 17 th and 18 th Centuries as a slave trading port. Whereas, Newfoundland’s residents may not have owned large number of slaves, enslavement of black people did occur. Perhaps more significantly, slave trade was an important form of commerce. The table below lists enslaved black people as cargo from ships porting at St. John’s Harbour.