In the summer of 1784, the quiet town of Shelburne, Nova Scotia, was thrown into chaos, not by war or natural disaster, but by a violent, racially charged riot led by white Loyalist settlers. Over several days, mobs looted, attacked, and burned the homes of Black Loyalists, formerly enslaved Africans who had been promised freedom for supporting the British during the American Revolution. This assault, now recognized as Canada’s first recorded race riot, was not random, it was a targeted attack on a vulnerable population whose only “crime” was trying to build a better life after surviving slavery. It was, in every sense, a punishment for Black progress.
The town of Shelburne was founded in 1783 at the close of the American Revolution, becoming a settlement for United Empire Loyalists, American colonists loyal to Britain who were fleeing post-war persecution. With a population that quickly ballooned to around 10,000, Shelburne was, for a short time, the largest British settlement in North America after New York.
Among these settlers were more than 1,500 Black Loyalists, formerly enslaved African Americans who had risked their lives by escaping their Patriot enslavers to fight for the British, lured by promises of land, protection, and freedom.
But the reality of life in Nova Scotia for these Black Loyalists was harsh. They were denied the right to vote, subjected to harsher punishments, and given smaller, often unusable, land grants. White settlers were angry too, but their frustration stemmed from having to compete for the same low-paying jobs, especially since Black Loyalists, who had received even fewer rations, were willing to work for lower wages.
By mid-1784, frustration among white Loyalists, particularly disbanded soldiers who felt overlooked by British authorities, had reached a breaking point. Jobs were scarce, and Black Loyalists, willing to work for lower wages, became easy scapegoats.
At the center of the storm was David George, a formerly enslaved man and prominent Black Baptist preacher in Shelburne who had begun drawing large crowds with his sermons and mass baptisms. His rising influence among the Black community, sparked fury among white residents who believed these formerly enslaved people were getting “above their station.”
The tipping point came when George prepared to baptize a white couple, William and Deborah Holmes. A mob led by Deborah’s relatives tried to stop the ceremony, but magistrates ruled that the couple could choose where to worship. Though the baptism went ahead, the message was clear: many white Loyalists would not tolerate Black religious leadership or equality.
On the night of July 25, 1784, white mobs, many of them former British soldiers, rampaged through the streets of Shelburne. They burned homes, looted belongings, and beat Black residents, including women and children. David George himself was targeted; his house was attacked, and he was forced to flee with his family.. David George later recalled:
“Several of the black people had houses upon my lot, but forty or fifty disbanded soldiers came with the tackle of ships and turned my dwelling house, and every one of their houses, quite over… They beat me with sticks and drove me into the swamp.”
The violence continued for ten days in Shelburne and for over a month in the surrounding areas, particularly along the road to Birchtown. Even in Birchtown, the attacks did not stop. Black Loyalists, many of them veterans themselves, formed militia groups to defend their settlement, but the violence persisted.
Peace only returned with the arrival of British troops from the 17th Regiment of Foot and the crew of a Royal Navy frigate.
In the end, dozens of Black homes had been destroyed, looted, or abandoned. Many Black Loyalists suffered injuries, though no deaths were officially recorded. Many of the victims fled to nearby Birchtown, a settlement that, while also impoverished, became a relative safe haven for the displaced.
The white mob had effectively expelled the free Black population from Shelburne, turning the town into a segregated space where Black people were only tolerated as indentured workers.
The white rioters faced little to no legal consequences. Authorities, including local magistrates and militia leaders, either turned a blind eye or were complicit in the violence. The British promise of protection for loyal Black subjects proved to be as fragile as the charred walls of their burned-down homes.
In the wake of the riots, many Black Loyalists who had once believed in British justice began to lose faith. Birchtown swelled with refugees but remained under-resourced and neglected. The fertile land promised to settlers was either already claimed or too rocky to farm. Without legal redress, many Black residents realized their status as “free people” meant little in practice.
By 1792, nearly 1,200 Black Loyalists, disillusioned and impoverished, left Nova Scotia for Sierra Leone, in West Africa where they established Freetown and became known as the Nova Scotian Settlers. There, they hoped to find the freedom and dignity that had eluded them in the so-called “land of liberty.”
Sources:
http://blackloyalist.com/cdc/story/prejudice/riot.htm
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-shelburne-race-riots
http://blackloyalist.com/cdc/documents/diaries/george_a_life.htm
