A Value in Knowing

  • By Darcy Rhyno
  • Photography By Aaron McKenzie Fraser and the Black Loyalist Heritage Society
  • Header photo by Unsplash/Viktor Forgacs

Getting to know Elizabeth Cromwell.

In 1783, more than 3,000 freed slaves from the US settled in Birchtown, NS—making it the largest community of free Blacks outside Africa. This fall, work began on the $7-million Black Loyalist Heritage Centre dedicated to their history. Slated to open in 2014, the project is the culmination of more than 20 years of volunteer work by the Black Loyalist Heritage Society and its president, Elizabeth Cromwell. Saltscapes spoke with her about her heritage, an uncertain early life, and her hopes for the new centre.

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