Sierra Leone

==== Resettlement of Black Loyalists ====
In the late 18th century, many African Americans claimed the protection of the British Crown. There were thousands of these Black Loyalists, people of African ancestry who joined the British military forces during the American Revolutionary War.<ref>Cassandra Pybus, ''Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution and Their Global Quest for Liberty'' (Beacon Press, Boston, 2006); Graham Russell Hodges, Susan Hawkes Cook, Alan Edward Brown (eds.),  ''The Black Loyalist Directory: African Americans in Exile After the American Revolution''. {{JSTOR|2947159}}.</ref> Many of these Loyalists had been slaves who had escaped to join the British, lured by promises of freedom ([[emancipation]]). The 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]] (north to Canada, or south to the West Indies).

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. Slave owner [[Edward Long (colonial administrator)|Edward Long]] criticized marriage between black men and white women.<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> However, on the voyage between [[Plymouth|Plymouth, England]] and Sierra Leone, seventy 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 Unpublished master's dissertation (London: Open University, 2013), pp. 40–43.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 that 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 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=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, since "it was necessary they should be sent somewhere, and be no longer suffered to infest the streets of London".<ref name=Siva2021/>