VF 32b2 Chloe Cooley Abduction



 


 


 


 

At a location about 10 km further upstream, along the Niagara River, one of the most infamous abductions of a black slave in Upper Canada took place. The location is marked by an Ontario Heritage Trust plaque, which reads:


On March 14, 1793 Chloe Cooley, an enslaved Black woman in Queenston, was bound, thrown in a boat, and sold across the river, to a new owner in the United States. Her screams and violent resistance were brought to the attention of Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, by Peter Martin, a free Black and former soldier in Butler's Rangers, and William Grisley, a neighbour who witnessed the event. Simcoe immediately moved to abolish slavery in the new province. He was met with opposition in the House of Assembly, some of whose members owned slaves. A compromise was reached, and on July 9, 1793, an Act was passed that prevented the further introduction of slaves into Upper Canada, and allowed for the gradual abolition of slavery - although no slaves already residing in the province were freed outright. It was the first piece of legislation in the British Empire to limit slavery, and set the stage for the great freedom movement of enslaved African Americans known as the Underground Railroad.


Though the Act prohibited the import of slaves into Upper Canada, it did not prevent the sale of slaves within the province or across the border into the United States. Newspapers in Upper Canada continued to publish advertisements of slaves for sale, and requests for slaves to purchase.

Little is known about Chloe Cooley's life, and virtually nothing about where she was taken after her abduction. But her struggle remains a testament to the horrors endured by slaves in Canada, and a graphic reminder of the stain of shame that existed on this side of the border as well.



 


 


 


 


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