In the decades prior to the Civil War, several abolitionist initiatives in Canada West led to the founding of independent black agricultural communities. These initiatives generally functioned by...Show moreIn the decades prior to the Civil War, several abolitionist initiatives in Canada West led to the founding of independent black agricultural communities. These initiatives generally functioned by setting up a financial fund to buy plots of land from the Canadian government, reselling those to black settlers, many of them fugitives from slavery. This thesis looks at how the three fugitive communities active during the 1850s — the Dawn Settlement, the Elgin Settlement, and the Refugee Home Society’s Settlement — were of importance to the American abolitionist movement, looking at their function in American abolitionist literature. How were the Canadian fugitive communities portrayed in American abolitionist literature and in what ways did they contribute to the goals of the American abolitionist movement in the 1850s? It concludes that fugitives were key to the contribution these communities made to the abolitionist movement, nuancing former depictions of the communities as initiatives mostly informed by American middle class ideals of self-improvement, and shows the importance of taking a transnational perspective in approaching the communities.Show less