The Providence African Society's Sierra Leone Emigration Scheme, 1794-1795: Prologue to the African Colonisation Movement

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Periodical article

Title:	The Providence African Society's Sierra Leone Emigration Scheme, 1794-1795: Prologue to the African Colonisation Movement
Author:	Brooks, George E.
Year:	1974
Periodical:	International Journal of African Historical Studies
Volume:	7
Issue:	2
Period:	June
Pages:	183-202
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Sierra Leone
Subjects:	abolition of slavery colonists freedmen History and Exploration
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/217128
Abstract:	Generally overlooked in literature is an unsuccessful emigration scheme undertaken by Rhode Island freedmen at the end of the 18th century. In Nov. 1794 the African Society of Providence dispatched one of its officers, James Mackenzie, to negotiate arrangements for the settlement of American freedmen. The colony's governor and council accorded Mackenzie a sympathetic hearing and promised farm land and town lots. That no member of the Society emigrated to Sierra Leone was principally due to the refusal of Reverend Samuel Hopkins, a well-know advocate of black emigration, to furnish the prospective colonists with the character references required by the governor of Sierra Leone. (One of the conditions was that the heads of each family must produce satisfactory testimonials of moral character). To be powerless and dependent on white patronage was a very bitter experience for the New England blacks. Notes.