Editing Sierra Leone (section)

=== Nova Scotians ===
{{Main|Nova Scotian Settlers}}

Following the American Revolution, some Black Loyalists from [[Nova Scotia]], Canada, were relocated to Sierra Leone, founding Freetown and contributing significantly to the [[Krio people]] and [[Krio language]] that would come to define the region.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

Following the [[American Revolution]], more than 3,000 Black Loyalists had also been settled in [[Nova Scotia]], but faced harsh winters and racial discrimination. [[Thomas Peters (black leader)|Thomas Peters]] pressed British authorities for relief and more aid; together with British abolitionist [[John Clarkson (abolitionist)|John Clarkson]], the [[Sierra Leone Company]] was established to relocate Black Loyalists who wanted to take their chances in West Africa. In 1792 nearly 1,200 persons from Nova Scotia crossed the Atlantic to build the second (and only permanent) Colony of Sierra Leone and the settlement of [[Freetown]] on 11 March 1792. In Sierra Leone they were called the [[Nova Scotian Settlers]], the ''Nova Scotians'', or the ''Settlers''. Clarkson initially banned the survivors of Granville Town from joining the new settlement, blaming them for the demise of Granville Town.<ref name="Siva2021" /> The Settlers built Freetown in the styles they knew from their lives in the [[American South]]; they also continued American fashion and American manners. In addition, many continued to practise [[Methodism]].

In the 1790s, the Settlers, including adult women, voted for the first time in elections.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12775514 |title=Sierra Leone's struggle for progress |newspaper=The Economist |date= 11 December 2008|access-date=22 August 2010}}</ref> In 1792, in a move that foreshadowed the women's suffrage movements in Britain, the heads of all households, of which a third were women, were given the right to vote.<ref>[[Simon Schama|Schama, Simon]] (2006), ''Rough Crossings'', p. 363.</ref> Black settlers in Sierra Leone enjoyed much more autonomy than their white equivalent in European countries. Black migrants elected different levels of political representatives, 'tithingmen', who represented each dozen settlers and 'hundreders' who represented larger amounts. This sort of representation was not available in Nova Scotia.<ref>Gilbert, Alan. ''Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence''. University of Chicago 2012, p. 229</ref> The initial process of society-building in Freetown was a harsh struggle. The Crown did not supply enough basic supplies and provisions and the Settlers were continually threatened by illegal slave trading and the risk of re-enslavement.<ref>{{Cite book |last = Fyfe |first = Christopher |title = Our Children Free and Happy: Letters from Black Settlers in Africa in the 1790s|publisher = Edinburgh University Press |year = 1992}}</ref>