WI there was a mass slave exodus to Canada?

If perhaps during the civil war or immediate following there was a movement among the slave population for an exodus to Canada?

How would Britain at this point deal with the sudden influx of hundreds of thousands of slaves/former slaves crossing into Canada?
 
Why would there be such an exodus at that time? As long as there was slavery and a fugitive slave law, slaves had a motive to escape to Canada but relatively few of them could. But what would their motive be, once slavery was abolished?
 
Why would there be such an exodus at that time? As long as there was slavery and a fugitive slave law, slaves had a motive to escape to Canada but relatively few of them could. But what would their motive be, once slavery was abolished?

Perhaps an assumption that they'd never be given equal status as citizens even as freemen.

Canada was seen by some as a promised land during the underground railway period this is just an extension of that.

Assuming this is post 1865 would anyone be able to feasibly stop them from entering Canada? I don't see the US government trying to hold them back.
 
One problem I see in such a senario: in the
years immediately following the ACW, most
of America's black population(especially of
course the now former slaves)lived in the
South(a circumstance that didn't even begin
to change until, I believe, WWI). Canada is
a long way from even Kentucky- let alone
Mississippi- which would have discouraged
any later-scale emigration there.
 
The Great Black North?

Maybe an enclave. Perhaps one of the escaped slaves who made it to Canada and prospers decides to share his good fortune with others in the new homeland he loves.

Henry Box Brown could be the leader of this community. It is set up to be a beacon in the North. If its in an unsettled part of the British territory the Crown may appreciate the settlers as opposed to any resentment or racism that may occur in any of the major cities and towns.

Names for the community? Northstar, Brownsville, Liberty.
 
Perhaps an assumption that they'd never be given equal status as citizens even as freemen.

Canada was seen by some as a promised land during the underground railway period this is just an extension of that.

Assuming this is post 1865 would anyone be able to feasibly stop them from entering Canada? I don't see the US government trying to hold them back.

But even if their status is not fully satisfactory, it is still an improvement from being slaves, and any improvement is going to reduce the incentive to leave. Canada is a long journey to make over a vague assumption.

I think they would need an economic motive. That is what caused them to move out of the South in the 20th century. Maybe if Canada industrlalizes before the US?
 
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You could make Canada bigger at the expense of the North. Does it count if Iowa is the heart of Black Canada?

Alternatively, the British could have never tried to settle Sierra Leone and just left the post-ARW slave exodus in Nova Scotia.
 
Canada will only take so many before they stop the rest at the border and tell them to go somewhere else.

Which border? This is the Canada of the mid 19th century the majority of the current border between the US and Canada is still actual unguarded forestland.

If theses blacks swear loyalty to the crown would they still be turned away since they could actually settle much of the land Canada/Britain was looking to settle in this period?
 
They could conceivably be sent west.There were concerns in OTL that western Canada would be absorbed into the United States, which was one of the primary motivations for Confederation in the first place. Settling large numbers of former slaves on between Winnipeg and Calagry would ensure that the Canadian west stays out of American hands, as the slaves would not be interested in returning to the United States.
 
Which border? This is the Canada of the mid 19th century the majority of the current border between the US and Canada is still actual unguarded forestland.

If theses blacks swear loyalty to the crown would they still be turned away since they could actually settle much of the land Canada/Britain was looking to settle in this period?

The period in question saw only Upper Canada and areas east settled to any serious degree. The rest was literal wilderness and wouldn't be settled for decades, so unless the newly freed blacks feel like banging it out with the Cree, Blackfoot and Metis people they won't be settling the West until at least 1880 (they also have no easy way to get there).

Canada doesn't the population or arable land at the time to absorb all these immigrants. They also don't have the will. Canada basically shut itself off from Irish immigration in the Era, so I can't see a very different result with huge numbers of freed slaves. The general trend was very slow Canadian growth because a lot of Canadians were migrating south due to better opportunity.

Canada will take some slaves, several thousand maybe, but it won't be tens or hundreds of thousands.
 
Even during the American Revolution Black Americans sided more with the Patriots.

They considered themselves Americans, and would have been grateful to the Union especially after its role in the war that lead to their emancipation. For a time at least, federal troops (many of them former slaves or free Black citizens) protected their ability to vote and their freedom. No point in trading that for an uncertain welcome in Canada.
 
Maybe an enclave. Perhaps one of the escaped slaves who made it to Canada and prospers decides to share his good fortune with others in the new homeland he loves.
They already did:
'All this the slave knows before he starts--indeed, before he determines to start. Then, he occasionally receives a lecture on the bad climate and worse customs of Canada. All manner of bugbears are put before him, touching this country. Sometimes, however, they go too far in this direction. I have heard slaves say, "We knew Canada was a good country for us, because master was so anxious that we should not go there."' (from Samuel Ringgold Ward's autobiography)

'The colored population of Upper Canada, was estimated in the First Report of the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada, in 1852, at thirty thousand. Of this large number, nearly all the adults, and many of the children, have been fugitive slaves from the United States; it is, therefore, natural that the citizens of this Republic should feel an interest in their fate and fortunes... it may relieve some minds from doubt and perplexity, to hear from the refugees themselves, their own opinions of their condition and their wants. These will be found among the narratives which occupy the greater part of the present volume.' (from A North-Side View of Slavery. The Refugee: or the Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada. Related by Themselves, with an Account of the History and Condition of the Colored Population of Upper Canada)

Names for the community? Northstar, Brownsville, Liberty.
There were at least three earlier foundations of all-black communities: Dawn (the home of Uncle Tom's Cabin), Wilberforce, and Buxton.

Settling large numbers of former slaves on between Winnipeg and Calagry would ensure that the Canadian west stays out of American hands, as the slaves would not be interested in returning to the United States.
Settling large numbers of escaped slaves on the land, before the abolition of slavery in the United States, would make sure they were interested in remaining British subjects. Settling large numbers of ex-slaves in Canada after the abolition of slavery, however, is a much more dicey proposition.

Canada basically shut itself off from Irish immigration in the Era
In what way? It doesn't seem to have been through legislation, unless the 1869 immigration act reversed everything that had come before.
 
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