Black Loyalists Collection Joins UNESCO Memory Register

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — An archival collection documenting the lives and struggles of Black Loyalists who settled in Nova Scotia after the American Revolution received international recognition Saturday when it was added to UNESCO's Canada Memory of the World Register.

The collection, titled "Black Loyalists in Canada: Autonomy, Advocacy, Community, Legacy," was produced through a partnership between the Nova Scotia Archives, the Black Loyalist Heritage Centre, the Shelburne County Museum and the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. It includes detailed ledgers, business receipts, church records, land petitions, legal documents and settlement plans from the 1780s onward, offering firsthand accounts of the Black Loyalists' experiences.

Black Loyalists were formerly enslaved Black people and free individuals who supported the British during the American Revolution, relocating to Nova Scotia in hopes of land, protection and freedom. However, they encountered broken promises, including inadequate rations, limited assistance and infertile land, along with widespread racism and hardships that tested their survival.

Andrea Davis, an eighth-generation descendant of Black Loyalists and...