Kirjahaku

This is the story of Isaac Brown, a slave who was accused of the attempted murder of a plantation owner in Maryland, escaped, and ultimately made his way to freedom in Canada. In the early to mid-nineteenth century, Isaac Brown, a slave, was accused of the attempted murder of a prominent plantation owner, despite there being no evidence of his guilt. Brown, after enduring two brutal floggings, was shipped to a New Orleans slave pen. From there the resourceful Brown was able to make a daring escape to Philadelphia in the free state of Pennsylvania. His biggest error was writing a note informing his free wife and eleven children in Maryland of his whereabouts. The note was intercepted and led to his arrest and attempted extradition back to Maryland.While engaged in researching an ancestor named Isaac Brown, Bryan Prince encountered the very high-profile case of what turned out to be a different Isaac Brown. The story of this slave, with its culmination in Brown’s dramatic escape and ultimate success in crossing the border into Canada, is the riveting subject of historian Bryan Prince’s latest book.

The story of African Canadians who fled slavery in the United States but returned to enlist in the Union forces during the American Civil War. On New Year’s Eve in 1862, blacks from across British North America joined in spirit with their American fellows in silent vigils to await the enactment of President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. The terms declared that slaves who were held in the districts that were in rebellion would be free and that blacks would now be allowed to enlist in the Union Army and participate in the civil war that had then raged for more than a year and a half. African Canadians who had fled from the United States had not forgotten their past and eagerly sought to do their part in securing rights and liberty for all. Leaving behind their freedom in Canada, many enlisted in the Union cause. Most served as soldiers or sailors while others became recruiters, surgeons, or regimental chaplains. Entire black communities were deeply affected by this war that profoundly and irrevocably changed North American history.