Bibliograph

The refugee:, the narratives of fugitive slaves in Canada

Type

Label

The refugee:, the narratives of fugitive slaves in Canada

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The refugee:

Nature of contents

dictionaries

Series statement

Voyageur classics

Sub title

the narratives of fugitive slaves in Canada

Summary

In the early 1850s, white American abolitionist Benjamin Drew was commissioned to travel to Canada West (now Ontario) to interview escaped slaves from the United States. At the time the population of Canada West was just short of a million and about 30,000 black people lived in the colony, most of whom were escaped slaves from south of the border. One of the people Drew interviewed was Harriet Tubman, who was then based in St. Catharine's but made several trips to the U.S. South to lead slaves to freedom in Canada. In the course of his journeys in Canada, Drew visited Chatham, Toronto, Galt, Hamilton, London, Dresden, Windsor, and a number of other communities. Originally published in 1856, Drew's book is the only collection of first-hand interviews of fugitive slaves in Canada ever done. It is an invaluable record of early black Canadian experience

Target audience

adult

resource.variantTitle

Narratives of fugitive slaves in Canada

Classification