Tubman, Shadd and Moodie on Escapism
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
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History,
Mary Ann Shad,
Refugee
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Here's a brief and simple look at Canada's refugee history. From the 15th Century to present times.
From the early 15th Century Canada has been a land of refuge for foreign nations. The Europeans first came; followed by the U.S. Loyalists, came because of the American Revolution.
The Black African Slave Trade was a flourishing venture in the U.S., especially in the Deep South. Slave masters were brutal; therefore the slaves sought refuge by escaping north to Canada.
Slaves were not allowed to travel without written authorization by their white masters, so they had to find a way to travel from the South to the North without detection or recapture, in which case they would be subjected to whippings, mutilation, castration or dead by hanging or burning.
Harriet Tubman (1820-1913) fled slavery. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 forced Tubman to settle runaways in Canada. She was known as the Woman called Moses, as she guided runaway slaves to freedom in the North.
Mary Ann Shad came to Canada in 1850 with her brother. In 1853 founded the Provincial Freeman Newspaper in Windsor Ontario. She believed that separate communities, church and school for Blacks, would undermine the search for freedom. She fought for “equality and integration for Black people.”
Susannah Moodie, nee Strickland, emigrated from Sussex, England, to Upper Canada in 1832 with her immediate family. A vocal opponent of slavery, she wrote the narratives of Mary Prince and Ashton Warner, published as the ‘History of Mary Prince;’ and the ‘Negro Slavery Described by a Negro: Being the Narrative of Ashton Warner, a Native of St. Vincent’s.’ (1831)
The works of both Shad and Moodie contributed to Canada being recognized as a land of refuge. Until today many from all over the world continue to escape to Canada as refugees, exiles or immigrants.
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