Black British or Black English was also a term for those Black and mixed-race people in Sierra Leone (known as the
Creoles or the
Krio(s))
who were descendants of migrants from England and Canada and identified as British.
[27] They are generally the descendants of black people who lived in England in the 18th century and
freed Black American slaves who fought for the Crown in the American Revolutionary War (see also Black Loyalists). In 1787, hundreds of London's
black poor (a category that included the
East Indian seamen known as
lascars) agreed to go to this West African colony on the condition that they would retain the status of
British subjects, live in freedom under the protection of the
British Crown, and be defended by the
Royal Navy. Making this fresh start with them were some white people (see also
Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor), including lovers, wives, and widows of the black men.
[28] In addition, nearly 1200 Black Loyalists, former American slaves who had been freed and resettled in
Nova Scotia, and 550
Jamaican Maroons also chose to join the new colony.
[29][30]