St. John's Maroon Church

St. John's Maroon Church is one of the oldest churches in Sierra Leone. The church has major significance in the history of the Jamaican Maroon population in Freetown. Jamaican Maroons are, yet another group of Africans from "The New World." The term "Maroon" typically describes Africans in the Americas that lived outside the control of slavery. These communities were formed, typically, of runaway slaves and the indigenous people of the area. The Jamaican Maroons were sent to Freetown after they were captured during the Second Maroon War in Jamaica in 1797-96. The Maroons were deported from Jamaica, to Nova Scotia in 1796 and then to Freetown in 1800. Maroons held African beliefs that they held during their time away from the institutions of slavery in the Americas. By 1820 the Maroons had converted to Christianity, mostly via free "Nova Scotian" blacks in Freetown. However, the Maroons felt uncomfortable among the Nova Scotians so they were granted permission to construct their own church, St. John's Maroon Church.

St. John's Maroon Church is significant because it directly pertains to another group of blacks that were sent to Africa. The Jamaican Maroon populace added their own influence to Freetown, more particularly, Maroon Town in which St. John's is situated in. The church shows how religion and cultural differences shaped the infastructure of Freetown. The story of the Maroons is not as prominent in the story of Freetown as the other free black groups that settled the area.

Lockett, James D. "The Deportation of the Maroons of Trelawny Town to Nova Scotia, Then Back to Africa." Journal of Black Studies 30, no. 1 (1999): 5-14. Accessed December 2, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2645890.

Martin, Leann. "Why Maroons?" Current Anthropology 13, no. 1 (1972): 143-44. Accessed December 2, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2741085.

“St John's Maroon Church, Freetown.” Sierra Leone Heritage. Accessed December 2, 2020. http://www.sierraleoneheritage.org/sites/monuments/stjohn.