While last week’s event was part of an ongoing lecture series, Hill is no stranger to Dalhousie. “Our hope is that by focusing on the things we share across different societies, we can increase our understanding of history while engaging in positive change.” “We’re obligated to remember such events in history to learn from them and become more tolerant and understanding,” said Seth Bloom, a representative from Shaar Shalom. Lawrence Hill, the novel’s Canadian author, visited Dalhousie last Thursday to deliver the 2015 Shaar Shalom Lecture entitled “ The Book of Negroes: Merging History, Fiction and Adaptation to Screen.” Presented in partnership between the university and the Shaar Shalom Synagogue, the lecture touched upon difficult issues of diversity, difference and tolerance in our contemporary society. Now, the story is earning new audiences as a CBC miniseries, much of it shot in Nova Scotia, that will also air on BET in the U.S. While their story is a cornerstone of Nova Scotia’s history, its details were likely new to many who picked up the award-winning novel The Book of Negroes when it became an international sensation upon its release in 2007. In return for serving for Britain during the American Revolution, these individuals were promised freedom, land, tools and food upon their arrival into the province.

In 1783, the British Army evacuated approximately 3,000 Black Loyalists from the United States to Nova Scotia.

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill