Meu Nome é Liberdade

The miniseries was adapted from the 2007 novel of the same name by Lawrence Hill, who also co-wrote the screenplay with director Clement Virgo.

Clement Virgo and producer Damon D'Oliveira bought the rights to the novel in 2009 and initially developed a screenplay for a feature film, before CBC and BET decided in 2010 to turn it into a six-episode miniseries.

Filming of the international co-production began in February 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa, and ended in early June of the same year.

Various locations in Nova Scotia, Canada, were used to recreate historical settings: the Fortress of Louisbourg represented 18th-century New York City, Canvas Town and the port of Lunenburg served as the historic port of New York, and Dock Street in Shelburne was used to depict the historic city of Shelburne.

The character Solomon Lindo, the Jewish indigo inspector, was based on a real ancestor of Chris Blackwell, the British-Jamaican founder of Island Records.

Aminata's first slave owner, Appleby, was inspired by a business partner of Henry Laurens, who headed one of the largest slave trading businesses in the Thirteen Colonies.

The character 'Daddy Moses' was based on the real historical figure Moses Wilkinson, and one of Aminata's supporters in New York is presented as Samuel Fraunces, owner of the historic Fraunces Tavern.

On its premiere, The Book of Negroes reached 1.7 million viewers in Canada, becoming the CBC's highest-rated original drama since the premiere of Road to Avonlea in January 1990.