Editing Sierra Leone (section)

=== Black Poor of London ===
{{Main|Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor}}
[[File:Houses at Sierra-Leone (May 1853, X, p.55) - Copy.jpg|thumb|Houses at Sierra-Leone (May 1853, X, p. 55)<ref>{{cite journal|title=Houses at Sierra-Leone|journal=The Wesleyan Juvenile Offering: A Miscellany of Missionary Information for Young Persons|date=May 1853|volume=X|page=55|url=https://archive.org/details/wesleyanjuvenil19socigoog|access-date=29 February 2016}}</ref>]]
In the late 18th century, some African Americans who had fought for the [[British Crown]] during the [[American Revolutionary War]] were resettled in Sierra Leone, forming a community named [[Black Loyalists]]. This resettlement scheme was partly motivated by social issues in London, with the Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme offering a new beginning for the [[Black Poor]]. Many had been slaves who had escaped to join the British, lured by promises of freedom ([[emancipation]]). Official documentation known as the ''[[Book of Negroes]]'' lists thousands of freed slaves whom the British evacuated from the nascent United States and resettled in colonies elsewhere in [[British North America]].
Pro-slavery advocates accused the Black Poor of being responsible for a large proportion of crime in 18th-century London. While the broader community included some women, the Black Poor seems to have exclusively consisted of men, some of whom developed relationships with local women and often married them. On the voyage between [[Plymouth|Plymouth, England]] and Sierra Leone, 29 European girlfriends and wives accompanied the [[Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor|Black Poor settlers]].<ref>Sivapragasam, Michael, "Why Did Black Londoners not join the Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme 1783–1815?" Unpublished master's dissertation (London: Open University, 2013), pp. 40–43.</ref> Many in London thought moving them to Sierra Leone would lift them out of poverty.<ref>[[Peter Fryer]] in ''[[Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain]]'' (London: [[Pluto Press]], 1984; p. 195) quotes a contemporary commentator who called them "indigent, unemployed, despised and forlorn", saying that "it was necessary they should be sent somewhere, and be no longer suffered to invest {{sic}} the streets of London" (C. B. Wadström, ''An Essay on Colonization'', 1794–5, II, 220).</ref> The Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme was proposed by entomologist [[Henry Smeathman]] and drew interest from humanitarians like [[Granville Sharp]], who saw it as a means of showing the pro-slavery lobby that black people could contribute towards the running of the new colony. Government officials soon became involved in the scheme as well, although their interest was spurred by the possibility of resettling a large group of poor citizens elsewhere.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2005-08-31|title=Freed slaves in Sierra Leone|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/aug/31/race.bookextracts|access-date=2020-09-20|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> [[William Pitt the Younger]], prime minister and leader of the Tory party, had an active interest in the Scheme because he saw it as a means to repatriate the Black Poor to Africa.<ref name=Siva2021>{{cite journal |first1=Michael |last1=Siva |title=Why Did the Black Poor of London Not Support the Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme? |journal=History Matters Journal |volume=1 |issue=2 |date=Winter 2021 |pages=25–47 }}</ref>

In January 1787, the ''Atlantic'' and the ''Belisarius'' set sail for Sierra Leone, but bad weather forced them to divert to Plymouth, during which time about 50 passengers died. Another 24 were discharged, and 23 ran away. Eventually, 411 passengers sailed to Sierra Leone in April 1787. On the voyage between Plymouth and Sierra Leone, 96 passengers died.<ref name=Siva2021/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://blackloyalist.com/canadiandigitalcollection/story/exodus/company.htm |title=Black Loyalist Heritage Society |access-date=19 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928222047/http://blackloyalist.com/canadiandigitalcollection/story/exodus/company.htm |archive-date=28 September 2007 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/gustavusvassa |title=Gustavus Vassa: Olaudah Equiano |publisher=Plymouth City Council |access-date=19 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013064927/http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/gustavusvassa |archive-date=13 October 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/sierraleone.htm|title=Economic History of Sierra Leone|access-date=10 October 2016|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303200704/http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/sierraleone.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1787 the British Crown founded a settlement in Sierra Leone in what was called the "[[Province of Freedom]]". About 400 black and 60 white colonists reached Sierra Leone on 15 May 1787. After they established [[Granville Town]], most of the first group of colonists died, owing to disease and warfare with the indigenous African peoples ([[Temne people|Temne]]), who resisted their encroachment. When the ships left them in September, they had been reduced to "276 persons, namely 212 black men, 30 black women, 5 white men and 29 white women".<ref name=Siva2021/>

The settlers that remained forcibly captured land from a local African chieftain, but he retaliated, attacking the settlement, which was reduced to a mere 64 settlers comprising 39 black men, 19 black women, and six white women. Black settlers were captured by unscrupulous traders and sold as slaves, and the remaining colonists were forced to arm themselves for their own protection.<ref name=Siva2021/> The 64 remaining colonists established a second Granville Town.<ref>{{Cite book |last = Pham |first = John-Peter |title = Child Soldiers, Adult Interests: The Global Dimensions of the Sierra Leonean Tragedy |publisher = Nova Publishers |year = 2005 |pages = 4–8 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZnPFKpwoIkIC&pg=PA4 |isbn = 978-1-59454-671-6 |access-date = 17 June 2014}}</ref><ref>Michael Sivapragasam, ''Why Did Black Londoners Not Join the Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme 1783–1815?'' London: Open University, 2013.</ref>