February Is Black History Month: Chloe Cooley

As mentioned in my previous post, Canada has it's own sordid history with slavery and Chloe Cooley could be considered a key figure in getting the wheels in motion for abolishing this horrible practise.

Chloe Cooley was an enslaved woman in Upper Canada who had been fighting to be freed for many years. Of course, being considered chattel, her acts of defiance were met with some harshness no doubt. This is likely the reason she was bound and thrown into a boat, headed across the Niagara River to New York where she was to be sold.

During this process, Cooley fiercely resisted and her screams caused several people to be witnesses to the incident and reporting it to then Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe. As an abolitionist, Simcoe used the incident as a means to introduce legislation to abolish slavery in Upper Canada.

Unfortunately, the best that could be done at the time was "The Act To Limit Slavery", but it was a step in the right direction and was followed by outright abolishment in subsequent years.