#merikins

[maartenman]

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The River of Freedom. Amazing composition by Adam Walters and Caitlyn Kamminga! #recording #classical #Merikins #utt #logic x (at Utt Maritime Campus)

[diasporadash]

"The story behind the arrival of the Merikins in Trinidad goes back to the American War of Independence, 1775 – 1783 when runaway slaves were first encouraged to join the British fighting forces. A major enticement for their enlistment was the promise of freedom by Lord Dunmore, the then Colonial Governor of Virginia. At the end of the war these ex-soldiers were granted their freedom and taken to Nova Scotia in Canada, Sierra Leone, Jamaica and the Bahamas.

These ex-slaves, ex-soldiers, now land owners, spoke an abbreviated version of the language, which was attained by either dropping the first letter or two, or the last letter off words. The word American went through a similar mutation; they meant to say that I am American but instead they said I am “Merikin”. To the Merikins, their plots were “Blood Lands”, that is, allotments earned by military service.

The total number of Merikin settlers who arrived in Trinidad between May 1815 and August 1816 was approximately 781 men, women and children, out of which 574 were the disbanded ex-soldiers. The men outnumbered the women."