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African-American slave and missionary
Cato Perkins was an
enslaved African-American man from
Charleston, South Carolina , who became a missionary to
Sierra Leone .
Cato was enslaved by John Perkins.
[1] Cato Perkins self-emancipated by joining the British during the
Siege of Charleston , and he joined
General Clinton in
New York and worked as a carpenter there. Perkins was evacuated to
Birchtown, Nova Scotia , in 1783, and he is listed in the
Book of Negroes . Upon arriving in
Nova Scotia , he was converted by
John Marrant of the
Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion , which was a
Methodist splinter group. Perkins was ordained into the church
[2] and later took over the running of it.
[3]
Perkins migrated to Sierra Leone, where he led a strike of carpenters against the
Sierra Leone Company . The new life in Sierra Leone was not what the group had expected and Perkins petitioned the SLC to improve Freetown;
[1]
[4] In 1793 Perkins travelled with Isaac Anderson to London to make their petition heard.
[5] By 1800, inflated price-fixing was leading to food riots and Perkins negotiated between the rioters and the council.
[4]
Perkins established the first Huntingdon's Connexion church, with William Ash and John Ellis
[6] and later on, other
Nova Scotian settler preachers established churches in the Liberated African villages.
Perkins died in Sierra Leone in 1805,
[7] although some sources state that he lived until 1820;
[6]
[8] his churches are the remnant of Huntingdon's Connexion church worldwide.
References
^
a
b
British Library website, The Lives and Letters of the Black Loyalists - Part 3 Cato Perkins and Nathaniel Snowball
^
University of Virginia website, John Morrant, From Methodism to Freemasonry
^
Equiano’s World website, ‘’Associates’’
^
a
b
Oxford University Press website, No Useless Mouth: Waging War and Fighting Hunger in the American Revolution; Chapter 8, Black Loyalist Hunger Prevention in Sierra Leone (2019)
^
William and Mary College website, Perceptions, Promises, And Power: Anna Maria Falconbridge, The Sierra Leone Company, And The Development Of Freetown, 1791-1802 , by Jackson Wood (2022)
^
a
b
Early Religious Influences in Sierra Leone . by F.W. Butt-Thompson, published in the Baptist Quarterly 16.7 (July 1956), pages 313-322.
^
Countess of Huntingdon Connexion website, The Elect Lady , by Gilbert W. Kirby (1972)
^
Black Loyalists Digital Collections website, Cato Perkins
Sources
Sanneh, L.O. (1997).
The Crown and the Turban: Muslims and West African Pluralism . Westview Press.
ISBN
9780813330594 .
Director of Language Centre University of Ghana Mary Esther Kropp Dakubu Professor of Linguistics, L. (1997).
Korle Meets the Sea : A Sociolinguistic History of Accra: A Sociolinguistic History of Accra . Oxford University Press, USA.
ISBN
9780195345186 .
Sillinger, B. (2003).
Sierra Leone: Current Issues and Background . Nova Science.
ISBN
9781590336625 .
Schama, S. (2006).
Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution . HarperCollins.
ISBN
9780060539160 .
Olson, J.S.; Shadle, R. (1991).
Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism . Greenwood Press.
ISBN
9780313262579 .
Ware, S. (1999).
Forgotten Heroes: Inspiring American Portraits From Our Leading Historians . Free Press.
ISBN
9780684868721 .
Clarke, G.E. (2002).
Odysseys Home: Mapping African-Canadian Literature . University of Toronto Press.
ISBN
9780802081919 .
Pybus, C. (2007).
Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution and Their Global Quest for Liberty . Beacon Press.
ISBN
9780807055151 .
Tony Pace.
"Cato Perkins" . blackloyalist.com. Archived from
the original on 19 February 2008. Retrieved 16 January 2014 .
Tony Pace.
"Freetown" . blackloyalist.com. Archived from
the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2014 .
Pybus, C. (2007).
Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution and Their Global Quest for Liberty . Beacon Press.
ISBN
9780807055151 .
Clendenen, C.C.; Duignan, P. (1964).
Americans in black Africa up to 1865 . Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, Stanford University.
Religious Tract Society (Great Britain) (1880).
The Sunday at Home . Religious Tract Society.
Butt-Thompson, F.W. (1926).
Sierra Leone in History and Tradition . Witherby.
Forna, A. (2003).
The Devil That Danced on the Water: A Daughter's Quest . Grove Press.
ISBN
9780802140487 .
Lunn, K. (1985).
Race and Labour in Twentieth-century Britain . Cass.
ISBN
9780714632384 .
External links
Sierra Leone website Two Voyages to Sierra Leone, During the Years 1791-2-3 , by Anna Maria Falconbridge
Protestant missions to Africa
People Missionary agencies Pivotal events See also