Mrs. Karen's Learning Commons: Lovestruck Part 1: Black History Month

Love.

For four letters, it can stir up some drastic emotions, especially when they involve someone we want to spend the rest of our lives with. However, love can be applied to a multitude of reactions, not the least of which is acceptance and respect. So, while February has long been referred to as the Month of Love, with Valentine's Day on Feb. 14, I find it quite appropriate that February is also Black History Month and the month when we don rosey attire for Pink Shirt Day Feb. 24, to draw attention to the plight against bullying.

They may all seem to be mashed into 28 days but they can all be boiled down to four letters: L-O-V-E — for the legacy black Canadians have made in our society, culture and communities; for the new relationships we have, including with books we have yet to read, through Blind Date With a Book; and for others, as we commemorate the anti-bullying Pink Shirt Day.

Part 1: Black History Month

The theme for this year's Black History Month is The Future is Now, and with the advent of the Black Lives Matter Movement in Canada, the future is indeed now, and it has never been more relevant to our perceptions, treatment, and governance of people of colour. To think about our future as a nation of colour, we have to invest the time and energy into looking into our past to see how we got to where we are, and the journey forward, whether it is paved with pebbles or boulders. And like all good journeys, ours to the future begins with a map of the past. It will come as a shock to many that Canada wasn't always the refuge for slaves fleeing the South; it was also a nation of enslavement itself.

Much like our American neighbour, the enslavement of African peoples in what was then British North America (early-day Canada) was a legal means to have an easily accessible labour force to fuel colonial enterprise. European traders and colonists in New France participated in the buying, selling and enslavement of black people beginning in the early 1600s, and that practice lasted throughout British North America until 1834, when it was abolished. Whether they were the first enslaved people (indigenous; panis) or the last (black; domestique), their existence was legalized, fostered, and encouraged through legislation.

According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, there were about 4,200 slaves in New France at the peak of slavery, about 2,700 of whom were indigenous who were enslaved until 1783, and at least 1,443 were black people enslaved between the late 1600s and 1831. Slavery in Canada was given a boost around the time of the American Revolution, when the Imperial Statute of 1790 encouraged United Empire Loyalists in the U.S. to bring their slaves north between 1775-1783. All toll, about 3,000 enslaved people of African descent were brought into British North America and by the l790s, the number of enslaved black people in the Maritimes (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island) was 1,200-2,000, with about another 300 in Lower Canada (Quebec) and 500-700 in Upper Canada (Ontario).

We often wonder in present-day why racism and discrimination towards black and indigenous peoples in North America are so rooted in our societies and in my view, it can all be traced back to slavery: Initiating a caste system that puts one people lower in rank than others for the sole purpose of cheap labour and the ability to call oneself above a certain station — that of a slave. In Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Pulitzer-Prize winning and New York Times bestselling author Isabel Wilkerson, Wilkerson wrote: "As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theatre, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power, which groups have it and which do not."

But this is a blog about accomplishments: of rising above and making a difference because slave or free, black people and their communities have shaped nearly every aspect of Canadian society since the arrival of Mathieu DaCosta in the 1600s, a free man who was thought to be the first black person to arrive in British North America. Da Costa was employed as a navigator and interpreter for Samuel de Champlain.

So let's turn our gaze closer to home, Alberta, where there have been black people living in our province since before the 1870s, working as fur traders or cowboys. According to Alberta's Heritage Community Foundation, there were 37 documented black settlers in the province in 1901, a number that grew tremendously after advertisements were placed in Oklahoma newspapers looking for settlers to move to province. Between 1908 and 1911, more than 1,000 black people migrated north to Alberta, as a result. However, upon their arrival, they were treated with the same racism and discrimination they had undergone in Oklahoma. Advertisements to discourage black migration were subsequently placed in newspapers in the U.S. state but despite this deterrent, their numbers grew as more and more fled north. In 1911, the Boards of Trade in Strathcona, Calgary, Fort Saskatchewan and Morinville drafted a petition containing more than 3,000 signatures to Prime Minister Sir. Wilfrid Laurier opposing the entry of any more blacks into the province. Despite this overt unwelcome message, the black communities in Alberta survived and even thrived in the earlier part of the 20th century. Amber Valley, Junkins (now Wildwood), Keystone (now Breton) and Campsie were established by some of Alberta's most resourceful black pioneers.

Leaving a Legacy

Black History Month in Canada would probably have never took hold if not for the groundwork done by former slave owner, Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe. Long before slavery would be abolished in 1834, Simcoe urged government to pass the Anti-Slavery Act, which would free slaves 25 years old and older, and making it illegal to bring slaves into Upper Canada. This sparked the beginning of the Underground Railroad which, from 1800-1865, saw 20,000 black slaves smuggled into Upper Canada from the United States. Upon their arrival, they set to work making a life for themselves, and beginning a legacy of involvement and heritage.

Two such examples were Thornton and Lucie Blackburn, who after escaping slavery in Louisville, Kentucky, arrived in Toronto via the Underground Railroad in the 1830s, and then Thornton proceeded to start Toronto's first cab company. The couple took part in anti-slavery activities and donated time and money to assist other refugees in Canada. The duo were given the distinction of being "persons of national historic significance" by the Canadian government in 1999.

In 2008, the Senate passed a motion to recognize black Canadians and recognize February as Black History Month. In that motion, the legacy of notable black Canadians were highlighted, including:

Rose Fortune: North America's first black policewoman, as well as being an accomplished businesswoman and entrepreneur
William Hall: A seaman in the British Royal Navy who became the first black man to win the Victoria Cross
Anderson Ruffin Abbot: The first Canadian-born black person to graduate from medical school. He was a surgeon in Toronto and served as a civilian surgeon for the Union Army in the American Civil War
James Robinson Johnston: The first black graduate of the Dalhousie Law School (in fact, the first black Canadian to graduate from any university). He would later become a lawyer, politician and judge.
Portia White: One of Canada's greatest contraltos was considered one of the best classical singers of the 20th century, and paved the way for many other black musicians
Viola Desmond: Nova Scotia activist and businesswoman who challenged racial segregation at a cinema in new Glasgow, N.S., in 1946, by refusing to leave the whites-only section.
Harry Jerome: The black Canadian sprinter to hold both the 100-yard and 100-metre records. Born in Prince Albert, Sask. in 1940, he was also a teacher and consultant.
Lincoln MacCauley Alexander: The first black Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons in 1968, as well as being the first black Lieutenant Governor of Canada. In 2015, Jan. 21 was proclaimed as Lincoln Alexander Day across Canada for his many accomplishments
George Elliott Clark: Toronto poet, novelist and playwright who spent his life exploring the black culture and heritage of black Nova Scotia, earning a bachelors from the University of Waterloo, a masters from Dalhousie University and a doctorate from Queen's University along the way. His poetry collection includes Execution Poem: The Black Acadian Tragedy of George and Rue (2001), which won the Governor General's Literary Award.
Carrie Best: Human rights activist, journalist, broadcaster and founder of The Clarion, the first black-owned and published newspaper in Nova Scotia
Austin Clarke: Teacher and renowned novelist, Clarke was awarded Canada's most prestigious annual award for fiction, the Giller Prize, for his novel, The Polished Hoe
Maxine Tynes: Tynes was a celebrated poet and teacher, as well as being the first African Canadian to be appointed a member of the Board of Governors of Dalhousie University
Betty Riley: Of Saint John, N.B., Riley was the first black female television producer in Canada, airing the first all-black television program, Black Is, which dealt with issues that the black community faced, which was broadcasted every week in Montreal.
Oscar Peterson: Eminent jazz musician and Chancellor of York University in Toronto, Peterson joined the Johnny Holmes Orchestra in Montreal while still in high school and later formed his own trio, which further established him as a renowned performer in Canada, including being named Jazz Pianist of the Year in 1950, the Praemium Imperiale (the arts equivalent of the Nobel Prize, presented by the Japan Art Association), the UNESCO International Music Prize, eight-time Grammy Awards' winner, and three-time winner of the 1993 Glenn Gould Prize.
Wayne Adams: Politician, journalist, activist and entrepreneur, Adams was the first black person elected to the Nova Scotia Legislative Assembly and the first black cabinet minister in Nova Scotia. He received the Order of Canada and the Order of Nova Scotia.

From the serving in the many British North American and Canadian conflicts, including the War of 1812, to the all-black Coloured Hockey League of the Maritimes, which was founded in Nova Scotia in 1895, to artists, musicians, activists, politicians and journalists, the black community in Canada has a long history of stepping up, stepping out, and stepping forward for many to walk behind.

In fact, their legacy in the Maritimes can be further researched through many historic associations, post-secondary institutions and news agencies, including The University of New Brunswick, The Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia: African Nova Scotia Museum and Black Cultural Society, The Black Cultural Society of Prince Edward Island, CBC: The 'hidden' history of The Bog--Charlottetown's forgotten black neighbourhood.

Origin of Black History Month in Canada

In 1978, the Ontario Black History Society (OBHS) formerly proclaiming February as Black History Month. The following year, the first-ever Canadian proclamation was made by the City of Toronto. Ten years after the OBHS made its declaration, Nova Scotia designated February as Black History Month in 1988, which was renamed as African Heritage Month in 1996. In 1993, OBHS's motion to the Ontario government to make its proclamation a provincial one was successful and paved the way for a national proclamation in the House of Commons in 1995.
To further solidify the legacy of the black community in Canada, the Senate introduced the Motion to Recognize Contributions of Black Canadians and February as Black History Month in February 2008.

eLibrary Literature Resources

Twelve Mile Coulee's Learning Commons has an abundance of BIPOC resources in our collection, including the following focusing on black history, particularly that of the migration of black people south of our boarder to parts of Upper Canada and the Maritimes via the Underground Railroad. To put in your eLibrary book order for any of the noted books below, just click on the title links and get the relevant information to input into our online book order form: