Jude and Diana - by Sharon Robart-Johnson (Paperback)

About the Book

Strong-willed and unyielding, Jude resisted the cruel bonds of slavery in Nova Scotia where she hoped to find freedom and, instead, found her place in history.

Book Synopsis

The only mention of sisters Jude and Diana in Nova Scotia's official history relates to their deaths: a slave-owning family was brought to trial for Jude's murder in 1801. They were acquitted, then years later, Diana mysteriously died in their home, too. Sharon Robart-Johnson honours these archival glimpses of enslaved people by re-creating the fullness of Jude and Diana's lives. Through Robart-Johnson's meticulous research, we experience eighteenth-century Yarmouth and Shelburne, where political debates about abolishing slavery were only just beginning to emerge. Through Robart-Johnson's creativity, we encounter Jude, a rebellious, endearing young woman whose fierce love of family connects us to her sweet, intelligent sister, Diana. Their stories may be hard to read, but despite the cruelty they endured, their humour, strength, and dignity shine brightly. Especially at this moment, Robart-Johnson's project to reveal the brutality experienced by enslaved Black people in Canada is crucial. More than two hundred years later, this story rings uncannily true; in 2020, murderers of Black people are still brought to court and acquitted. May Jude and Diana's lives contribute to the coming transformation.

Review Quotes

This is a story of Jude whose strong will and unyielding spirit resisted the cruel bonds of slavery in Nova Scotia where she hoped to find freedom and, instead, found her place in history.

About the Author

Sharon Robart-Johnson was born in the South End of Yarmouth; she is a thirteenth-generation Nova Scotian. Her roots reach beyond the Expulsion of the Acadians in 1755 to the arrival of the Black Loyalists in Shelburne in 1783, as well as an enslaved person brought to Digby County in 1798. In 2009 she published her first book, Africa's Children: A History of Blacks in Yarmouth. Sharon is the Publications Chair of the Yarmouth County Historical Society, which owns and operates the Yarmouth County Museum and Archives. Her years of archival experience and passion for researching Black history has most recently culminated in historical fiction, a way to honour those omitted from colonial archives.