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Rev. Richard Preston
(1790-1861)
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Rev. Richard Preston was one of the most important church and community leaders in Nova Scotia. Preston escaped slavery and came to Canada in search of his mother in 1816. He was a leading figure in helping to set up 11 Baptist churches in Nova Scotia and encouraged church members to press for changes that would make their lives easier.
Affectionately called "Father Preston" by his congregation, he trained as a Baptist minister in England. It was during his stay there, that Richard Preston met many of the great liberals who were leading voices in the Abolition Debates which led to the Slavery Abolition Act passed by the British Parliament in 1833. As a former slave he could speak on the brutality many suffered from personal experience.
Upon his return to Nova Scotia, he assumed an even greater presence in the anti slavery movement and he became President of the Abolitionists in Halifax, which communicated often with societies in Boston and other Northern cities. One of Richard Preston’s greatest accomplishments was the creation of the African United Baptist Association in 1854. Made up of representatives from 12 Black Baptist Churches in Nova Scotia, it has grown to become one of the most important African Canadian community groups in the history of Nova Scotia.
With his death in 1861, Richard Preston’s dream of freedom for all slaves still had not become a reality.
