Many thousands of black people were enslaved in the Maritimes, Quebec, and Upper Canada between the seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries. It is not surprising that slavery played a part in Canadian history, but it is startling that it has not received widespread attention from the general Canadian public or from historians. This sourcebook collects a variety of documents, including runaway-slave advertisements, letters, court cases, and official government documents, offering readers an opportunity to explore black slavery in the Maritimes and revise their understanding of Canadian history.

Harvey Amani Whitfield's profile page

Harvey Amani Whitfield is Professor of United States and Canadian history at the University of Vermont. His previous books include North to Bondage: Loyalist Slavery in the Maritimes, Blacks on the Border: The Black Refugees in British North America, 1815–1860, and The Problem of Slavery in Early Vermont, 1777–1810.

“Harvey Amani Whitfield, the leading authority on slavery in the Maritime provinces, here provides an extraordinary collection of documents on the subject. The cruelty of slavery, the harms that it did to enslaved and free Black people, and the myriad forms of slave resistance are fully on display, as much in banal deeds of sale as in powerful first-person accounts by slaves and former slaves.” — Elsbeth Heaman, Department of History, McGill University

“Black Slavery in the Maritimes is a welcome and impressive addition to the historiography of slavery in Canada, and vitally necessary for school curricula. Teachers will find this sourcebook useful, as it is a ‘hands on’ tour of slavery in Canada. Additionally, scholars of Black Canadian history, both inside and outside the academy, will be delighted to have this sourcebook in hand.” — Afua Cooper, James Robinson Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies, Dalhousie University

“Not only does Black Slavery in the Maritimes provide a sourcebook that will be of enormous educational value, but it is also an exceptional work of scholarship. Whitfield combines clear-sighted historical expertise with deeply humane insights, notably in the general and sectional introductions and in the poignant commentaries on each document. This is a documentary history of rare quality.” — John G. Reid, Department of History, Saint Mary’s University

“This remarkable collection of documents makes undeniable the everyday reality of Black slavery in the early Maritimes. Whitfield’s introduction and document glosses provide critical historical background while still reserving to the reader a sense of discovery about slavery and its penetration into diverse social, economic, legal, and political aspects of Maritime culture.” — Elizabeth Mancke, Canada Research Chair in Atlantic Canada Studies, University of New Brunswick