Editing History of Sierra Leone (section)

=== Conception of the Province of Freedom (1787) ===
[[File:Wesleyan Institution, King Tom's Point (May 1853, X, p.57) - Copy.jpg|thumb|260px|Wesleyan Institution, King Tom's Point (May 1853, X, p.57)<ref name="Juvenile1853a">{{cite journal|title=Wesleyan Institution, King Tom's Point|journal=The Wesleyan Juvenile Offering: A Miscellany of Missionary Information for Young Persons|date=May 1853|volume=X|page=57|url=https://archive.org/details/wesleyanjuvenil19socigoog|access-date=29 February 2016|publisher=Wesleyan Missionary Society}}</ref>]]
In 1787, a plan was established to settle some of London's "Black Poor" in Sierra Leone in what was called the "Province of Freedom". This was organised by the [[Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor]], founded by British abolitionist [[Granville Sharp]], which preferred it as a solution to continuing to financially support them in London. Many of the Black Poor were African Americans, who had been given their freedom after seeking refuge with the British Army during the American Revolution, but also included other West Indian, African and Asian inhabitants of London.<ref>Michael Siva, "Why did the Black Poor of London not support the Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme?", ''History Matters Journal'', Vol. 1, No. 2 (Winter, 2021), p. 25.</ref>

The Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme was proposed by entomologist [[Henry Smeathman]] and drew interest from humanitarians like [[Granville Sharp]] saw it as a means of showing the pro-slavery lobby that black people could contribute towards the running of the new colony of Sierra Leone. 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=31 August 2005|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=20 September 2020|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, since "it was necessary they should be sent somewhere, and be no longer suffered to infest the streets of London".<ref>Michael Siva, "Why did the Black Poor of London not support the Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme?", ''History Matters Journal'', Vol. 1, No. 2 (Winter, 2021), p. 35.</ref>