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CHLOE COOLEY
CHLOE COOLEY
On March 17,1793, Chloe Cooley an enslaved Black woman of Queenston was bound, thrown in a boat and sold across the river to a new owner in the United States.
Rumours of abolition and freedom had been circulating among the slaveholders and the enslaved Black people. Slaveholders like William Vrooman and others began to sell their slaves rather than lose money on their investments.
Chloe's screams and violent resistance, is remembered as the voice that eventually brought the abolition of slavery in Canada. This first step happened here in Niagara on July 9, 1793, when Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, passed “an Act to prevent the further introduction of slaves, and to limit the term of contract for servitude within this province.”
For more information on Chloe Cooley visit;
On August 23, 2007, the Ontario Heritage Trust and the Niagara Parks Commission unveiled this provincial plaque in Queenston, Ontario. Plaque Coordinates:
43°11'10.0"N 79°03'28.5"W
(along the Niagara Parkway just south of line 6 )
Plaque inscription;
CHLOE COOLEY AND THE 1793 ACT TO
LIMIT SLAVERY IN UPPER CANADA
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 Railway.
Ontario Heritage Trust, an agency of the Government of Ontario.
An Act to Prevent the further Introduction of Slaves and to limit the Term of Contracts for Servitude, 9 July 1793.
ARCHIVES OF ONTARIO/STATUTES OF UPPER CANADA, 3 GEORGE III, CAP. 7
http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/alvin_mccurdy/big/big_03_anti_slavery_act.aspx
The petition that brought change;
~ Women of my Neighbourhood ~ is an art and history project profiling women that lived in historic Queenston, a village in the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON Canada.
~ Women of my Neighbourhood ~ is an art and history project profiling women that lived in historic Queenston, a village in the Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON Canada.
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