The fascinating story of the Black Loyalists during and after the American Revolution and War of Independence is outlined in this new site. Featuring essays, outlines, a timeline and digital documents, the site relates the story of the nearly 30,000 African Americans who helped the British during the revolution; the promise of freedom from slavery by the British authorities; their, not entirely successful, evacuation to Nova Scotia; and, for some, the ultimate return to Africa – Sierra Leone. The history is poignantly encapsulated in An Account of Life by Mr David George (c.1743-1810) one of the digital personal accounts.

The site is part of Canada’s digital collections archived at library and archives Canada.