Grade 7 · Social Studies · Unit 8 of 10
Black History in Canada
Slavery, freedom and community
What your child practises
Slavery in early Canada and how people resisted it, Black Loyalists, the Act to Limit Slavery in Upper Canada, the Slavery Abolition Act, the Underground Railroad, and Black settlements that built a sense of belonging and pride up to 1850.
Ontario Curriculum expectation: History A3.7, B3.3, B3.5 · Black individuals and communities in Canada up to 1850
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Black people in British North America faced barriers such as segregated schools and unequal treatment. How did many respond?
- They were not affected
- They accepted every unfair rule
- They built their own institutions and spoke out for equal rights
- They had no responses
Show answer
They built their own institutions and spoke out for equal rights
Hint: Communities organized for fairness and opportunity.
Question 2
Why did Black Loyalists come to Nova Scotia after the American Revolution?
- They wanted to join the American army
- They were sent by France
- They had supported Britain, which promised them freedom and land
- They came to find gold
Show answer
They had supported Britain, which promised them freedom and land
Hint: Britain promised freedom to people enslaved by Patriots who joined the British side.
Question 3
Birchtown, Nova Scotia, became…
- one of the largest free Black communities in North America at the time
- a French capital
- a fur trade fort
- a mining town
Show answer
one of the largest free Black communities in North America at the time
Hint: Many Black Loyalists settled there, though they often faced discrimination and delayed land grants.
Question 4
What did the 1793 Act to Limit Slavery in Upper Canada do?
- It stopped more enslaved people from being brought in and set a path to freedom for children of the enslaved
- It freed everyone immediately
- It created the Underground Railroad
- It made slavery legal for the first time
Show answer
It stopped more enslaved people from being brought in and set a path to freedom for children of the enslaved
Hint: It did not free those already enslaved, but it began to end slavery in Upper Canada.
Question 5
Why do historians include the stories of enslaved and free Black people when describing early Canada?
- They were part of the country's economy, communities and struggles from the beginning
- They are not mentioned in any records
- They were only visitors
- They did not work or build communities
Show answer
They were part of the country's economy, communities and struggles from the beginning
Hint: A full picture of the past includes many voices.
Question 6
In what year did the Act to Limit Slavery in Upper Canada pass?
- 1783
- 1837
- 1793
- 1812
Show answer
1793
Hint: John Graves Simcoe's government passed it in 1793.