Free Communities: Birchtown and Shelburne

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Taken in the 1930s, this photograph features John Farmer, a resident of Birchtown and the grandson of a freed couple that were brought to Shelburne County in 1783.

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This watercolour of a man cutting wood was drawn in 1788, and features the earliest known depiction of a black Nova Scotian. the unnamed subject was likely a resident of Birchtown.

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The above text is the Diary of Simeon Perkins, written by a militiaman who lived from 1735 to 1812. His diary remains of the few known contemperary sources mentioning the Shelburne Race Riot. Considered the first race riot in North America, this wave of violence began on July 25th, 1784, when a mob of white loyalists attacked the home of preacher David George and moved on the destroy more property in the region, primarily targetting the free Black population. It is likely that the Black community of Shelburne county was used as a scapegoat for the economic hardship of the time, which coincided with the arrival of Black loyalists following American Revolution. Perkins mentions this event in his diary entry of July 29, 1784, sandwiched between news of the weather and fishing: "They report that am Extraordinary mob or Riot has happened at Shelburn. Some thousands of People assembled with Clubbs & Drove the Negroes out of the Town, and threatened Some People."