Chloe Cooley
Source: National Archives & Historic Records of Canada
Prophets & Divine Messengers • Historical Archive • 🇨🇦 Canada • 0 views

Chloe Cooley 🇨🇦

Chloe Cooley (Known as "Chloe Cooley")
Enslaved Black Woman whose Resistance Sparked the 1793 Act Against Slavery
Born c. 1770 🇨🇦 Upper Canada (Ontario), Canada
Passed Away c. 1800 New York State, United States
Lifespan 30 years old
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Notice / Correction
"Her defiant cries on the banks of the Niagara echoed into the halls of Parliament and became the foundation of abolition in the British Empire."

Archival Overview

Enslaved Black woman in Upper Canada whose desperate, violent resistance against being bound and sold across the Niagara River in 1793 catalyzed the British Empire's very first anti-slavery legislation.

Biographical Record

In March 1793, Cooley was enslaved by Loyalist Adam Vrooman in Queenston, Upper Canada. Fearing that incoming abolition laws would diminish his property value, Vrooman violently bound Cooley with rope and, with the help of two accomplices, forced her onto a boat across the Niagara River to sell her into American slavery despite her ferocious screams and physical struggles.

Witness Peter Martin, a free Black Loyalist veteran, reported the outrage to Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe. Simcoe immediately used Cooley's heroic resistance to introduce the 1793 Act Against Slavery, which outlawed slave importation and ensured freedom for future children of enslaved mothers in Upper Canada.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Unknown resting place
Lewiston (New York), United States
GPS: 43.1725, -79.0347
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