Browse Items (33 total)

Henry Bibb - c1849.png
In 1849, Henry Bibb published Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, An American Slave, Written by Himself in which this picture appears. It is interesting that he chose a handbill advertizing himself as a runaway slave for his portrait…

Jeremiah Jerry Jones 1916.png
Jeremiah Jones was from Truro, Nova Scotia who fought in the First World War, including at Vimy Ridge. He enlisted in the Nova Scotia Rifles but was later transferred to the Royal Canadian Regiment. Despite his bravery in battle he did not receive…

Governor John Graves Simcoe.png
Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe played a significant role in the passing of a law in Upper Canada in 1793 that was intended to gradually eliminate slavery. While existing slaves would remain slaves, the law disallowed any new slaves from…

John Ware and Family - AB - 1896.png
From left to right, these people are Mildred Ware, her son Robert, her daughter Nettie, and her husband John Ware. John Ware was originally from South Carolina where he was born into a slave family. When he grew up he became a successful rancher in…

Joseph Papineau - 1825.png
This image of Joseph Papineau was painted 26 years after he presented the citizen's petition endorsing the abolition of slavery in Lower Canada.

Layout of Slave Ship.png
This illustration shows the way slave ships were packed with slaves during the Atlantic slave trade. The illustration was used as evidence presented to a select committee of the British House of Commons in 1790-1791. However, it took another…

Leonard Parkinson a Captain of the Maroons - NS - 1796.png
The then British colony of Jamaica had a significant population of escaped American and West Indies slaves, called Maroons, who lived there in freedom. Some had lived in Jamaica for generations. After an unsuccessful revolt against the British…

Map of the Underground Railroad Routes to Canada.png
The Underground Railroad was the name given to the system of secret routes and stopping points that White and Black abolitionists and fugitive slaves used to get fugitives out of the southern American "slave states" and into the northern "free…

MJA face.JPG
Marie Joseph Angelique was a Black slave woman living in Montreal in the early eighteenth century. She was accused of setting fire to her mistress’s house and, in doing so, burning down half of what is now Old Montreal. She was tried in a court of…

Mary Ann Shadd Cary - c1850.png
Mary Ann Shadd Cary (1823-1893) was a black American who, despite being born free, came to Canada when the U.S. Fugitive Slave Act was implemented in 1850. She was a teacher, abolitionist, and activist. In 1853 she became the first woman in Canada…
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