African Canadian Heritage Trail

[X]

Re: African Canadian Heritage Trail

.. interesting information Tropicana. Thanks..

Take a look at this...
I just did a google search for "Black History America"
Top result = http://www.africana.com/
simple huh. There it is, right in my face.

So I did a google search for "Black History Canada"

Results below:

http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/multi/black-noir/index_e.cfm

a government site does just sends out the same shallow ping of a message to blacks.. "this is how much of u here, and this is where u live.. you did squat didly to help

http://www.blackhistoryottawa.com/

this as a "coming soon" page that doesnt open.. Maybe its a pop-up.

http://www.dal.ca/~acswww/dalbh.html

yeah like we gonna remember that.. "oh yeah go look at www.dal.ca slash wavy thinamagig slash da.. opps sarry, slash acswww slash dalbh.html" thats wat I'd have to verbalize this website .. Very helpfull indeed

And last but not least, this wasnt in the early search results, but its the one you pointed to.. Bt the way, I'm checking it out..

http://www.qesnrecit.qc.ca/socialsciences/bhr/hbhmcan.htm

..."nuff said"...

USA = AFRICANA.COM
CANADA = www.dal.ca slash wavy thinamagig slash da.. opps sarry, slash acswww slash dalbh.html

the "ignorance, is not of lack of wanting wisdom.. it would eb a shame if the people are beaten up simply because they arent suppose to know.
I learn daily of the subtlety of the "keep down-ism" here. Not a bad place to live, but still.. racially in some kinda lala land..

[Verandah5]

Re: African Canadian Heritage Trail

Originally posted by Xks:
[qb] Canadian black history, to me, is still in the undergrounds.. We can fact the problem, unite and try to fix it, or we can bury our heads in the sand.. [/qb]

...And will continue to be buried just like in the UK, if the people of African decent do not accept their true heritage and do as the Jews, and demand, fight and at times die for what they want, not only for their own advancement but for the advancement of their children and their children's children.

The African Americans (although they are not respected on this board by some) achieved through blood, sweat and tears what they plan to celebrate this month. Look at their history and take a page from their book, or better yet take the darn book.

Fight the Power and get what you deserve for you and your children because as is demonstrated, they will never give it over willingly.

[Tropicana]

Re: African Canadian Heritage Trail

Very, very sad state of affairs Xks.

Now for boardites based in Toronto there are a number of sources of information close to home. I will highlight one. Black Creek Pioneer Village has a multimedia show about the history of African American migration to Canada during the 19th century. It took my son there just before Christmas. I think the village is closed until the spring (not sure check it out) but it's well worth a visit. Now Black Creek Pioneer Village is just up the road from the Jane Finch corridor. How many of the Black children in that area have been taken there for a visit by their parents? Do the schools even bother to take ALL childrend there. It is a rich source of historical information and White children need to have a sense of their history and roots too.

One thing is very sad. The curator of the Heritage Room at the WISH centre in Chatam told me (and I will bold this) they get very few Black visitors!!!! Perhaps people don't know about it, I don't know. Certainly if anyone stays at a hotel in Chatam or anywhere in that area, there is a pamphlet for the American Heritage Trail that gives full information about all the different sites, hours of operation, phone numbers, etc.

[Tropicana]

Re: African Canadian Heritage Trail

The African Americans (although they are not respected on this board by some) achieved through blood, sweat and tears what they plan to celebrate this month. Look at their history and take a page from their book, or better yet take the darn book.

[X]

Re: African Canadian Heritage Trail

Originally posted by B.R.:
[qb] ...And will continue to be buried just like in the UK, if the people of African decent do not accept their true heritage and do as the Jews, and demand, fight and at times die for what they want, not only for their own advancement but for the advancement of their children and their children's children.

[/qb]

agreed.

I remeber reading something that Martin Luther King said.. Something to the effect that "..If a man is not willing to die for something, then he does not deserve to live.."
Something like that..

For me, juust moving here, never jknowing what it meant to be a minority till I got here, I see things differently.
But then to be understanding, for blacks here, there is/was much more to consider when rocking the boat.. Look at the freaking climate!

I mean, who the heck gonna march when its -35 plus wind chill??
I can just see a Canadian Martin Luther King at the Ebenezer Baptist on Yonge and Finch (or whaddever) .. "We gonna march tomorry for that lady that they locked up because she didnt want to sit at the back of the GO train!"
The congregation.. " A wha duh him??? him nuh watch Breakfast TV? Him nuh see -35 tonmorrow?? ..
plus if mi march and loose mi job, dem come cut off mi gas and wi freeze inna di house."

It may be funny to some, but the cold weather 6 months a year could contribute to ones passive metality. Maybe thats why the UK is the same racially. Who knows.. But still who can push, must push, and who can support must support.
Black History MUST be taught in schools.. Just like the US counterparts.
If not, we have to teach our kids, in ways Tropicana is teaching me right now. We have no choice it must be done.
Never forget Ben Johnson, the Canadian sprinter, who quickly became the Jamaican born canada sprinter after his disgrace.

[Tropicana]

Re: African Canadian Heritage Trail

This page has some important information but I want to highlight this part:

By mid 1850s there were nearly 1,000 Blacks in Toronto- a sizeable proportion of the total population of 47,000. W.R Abbott is perhaps Toronto s most noted example of a persecuted Black freedman who fled from the southern States seeking better condions in the North and then, despairing of the prejudice there, emigrated in 1835 to the town of York. Abbott could neither read nor write at first, but he had extraordinary mathematical ability and accumulated a fortune in real estate and the tobacco business before his death in 1875. He also reared a distinguished family. of his sons, Anderson Ruffin Abbott, became a medical doctor, graduating in the early 1860s from the Toronto Medical my, an affiliate of the University of Toronto. Bitter about slavery, he joined the Union Army and became one of eight Black surgeons to serve in the American Civil War. He subsequently returned to Canada to become Coroner of Kent County and Resident Physician at the Toronto General Hospital.

[Verandah5]

Re: African Canadian Heritage Trail

Olivier Le Jeune, the first Black in Canada from various sources

Contrary to popular belief, slavery is a very real part of our Canadian history.
In 1628, the first black person known to have lived in Canada was a native of Madagascar. He was bought at the age of 7 by the British Commander David Kirke during his invasion of New France and sold to Olivier Le Tardiff, head clerk of the French Colony. When Quebec was handed back to the French in 1632, Le Tardiff, who had often collaborated with the British, was forced to flee. He sold his slave to a Quebec resident. The boy was educated in a school established by the Jesuit priest, Father Le Jeune. He was later baptised as Olivier Le Jeune, taking the first name of the French clerk and the surname of the Jesuit priest.

He died on May 10, 1654. It is believed that by the time of his death his official status was changed from that of "domestic servant" to freeman.

[X]

Re: African Canadian Heritage Trail

Originally posted by B.R.:
[qb]

Olivier Le Jeune, the first Black in Canada from various sources

Contrary to popular belief, slavery is a very real part of our Canadian history.
In 1628, the first black person known to have lived in Canada was a native of Madagascar. He was bought at the age of 7 by the British Commander David Kirke during his invasion of New France and sold to Olivier Le Tardiff, head clerk of the French Colony. When Quebec was handed back to the French in 1632, Le Tardiff, who had often collaborated with the British, was forced to flee. He sold his slave to a Quebec resident. The boy was educated in a school established by the Jesuit priest, Father Le Jeune. He was later baptised as Olivier Le Jeune, taking the first name of the French clerk and the surname of the Jesuit priest.

He died on May 10, 1654. It is believed that by the time of his death his official status was changed from that of "domestic servant" to freeman.

[/qb]

... yet another picture I'll be saving and printing..

This imformation is amazing.

[Tropicana]

Re: African Canadian Heritage Trail

Personal Notes

So what did I learn this weekend. Well first I learned that I have barely scratched the surface when it comes to the history of people of African descent. Secondly, I learned that there are a lot of resources and sources of information out there...we just have to hunt for them. Here are the places I visited and what I learned:

Heritage Room, WISH Centre (Chatham)

http://www.mnsi.net/~wishc/heritageroom/

This is a display of artifacts, miniatures of buildings, and historical information about the Black community in Chatam. I learned that there wree almost 2000 Black people living in Chatam at one time. Some owned city blocks. It was a thriving community with 5 Black doctors, at least one lawyer, tradesmen, and performers like Bethune Murray ( noted pianist, artist and composer), Mary C. Hyers and Mary C. Bohee, and athletes like the Chatham Coloured All-Stars (winners of the Provincial Intermediate Baseball Championship in October 1934).

The community lived a parallel existense to the White community and had their own schools, churches, stores, etc. Schools were desegregated in the late 1800s but it took a fight. Public facilities and housing remained segregated until the later half of the 20th century.

[Verandah5]

Re: African Canadian Heritage Trail

Director: Fern Levitt
Location: Nova Scotia



Director Fern Levitt, in her inspirational film, 'Captain of Souls', tells the story of Reverend William White. Born into deeply segregated Virginia in 1874, the son of two former slaves who managed to buy their freedom, William White as a child wanted to be the richest Black man in the United States. During a walk by himself in the woods one day, he suddenly realized that his destiny was not the accumulation of material wealth, but spiritual wealth. He knew that he was to become a preacher.

He applied and was accepted in Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada. He was the second Black man to study there. White broke down racial barriers, through his participation in sports, excelling to become one of the all-time great athletes at Acadia. He graduated with an Art's degree in Theology, and was ordained a Minister in 1903. William White was determined to preach to his congregation that God created all men equal, that Blacks were not put on the earth to be slaves to the Whites. He worked towards knocking down racial barriers in the arena of employment, at the segregated theatres, buses and schools.

During World War I, Blacks were not allowed to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with Whites, so they started their own regiment, The 2nd Construction Battalion of Nova Scotia. White served as the pastor. He was the only Black officer in the British Army. Despite the horrors of the killing fields of France, Rev. White continued to preach racial tolerance and a message of inspiration. After the war, he was given his own church, the Second Baptist Church of New Glasgow, and invited to provide a monthly radio broadcast, heard across Canada and northern United States. White's sermons succeeded in preaching a message of hope and unity - that people had a destiny and no matter what it was, as long as they had a vision to pursue that destiny, they were a success.

Captain Rev. William White died in September, 1936, of cancer. Shortly before his untimely death, Rev. White received a Doctorate in Theology, the first Black in Canada to receive such an honour. A lot of the racial barriers in Canada had started to tumble. Rev. White's death affected Blacks and Whites alike, as they stood in front of the Baptist church to pay tribute to one man, who had added so richly to the tapestry known as Canada.

[Tropicana]

Re: African Canadian Heritage Trail

Thanks Xks...if we all work together and share what we know, we can start to overcome our appalling lack of knowledge.

The Elgin settlement (also known as Buxton)

This was very exciting. Since we were the only two visitors on Friday afternoon, we got a personal tour. The museum is owned and operated by descendants of some of the original settlers. There is a museum, a log cabin about to be restored, the school house (the only surviving school house build by African Canadians), a church. As one goes along the Bloomfeld Road, one can still see some of the original dwellings.

The museum starts in Africa and follows the trail to Canada. There are African artifacts. There is one corner devoted to the middle passage. There is a replica of part of a slave ship showing the bunks in which our ancestors were transported to the Americas. The space was tiny and yet 2 people were cramped into each bunk. There is a whole wall about slavery with actual artifacts from slavery days. There is a slave auction block, shackles, foot and hand (one was cut off the ankle of a 12 year old boy) and a display of various instruments of torture (a whip and collar).

Some things that I learned included:

- as early as the 1500s, some Native people were captured off in the Labrador area and taken to Europe as slaves
- some Native people from North America were captured and taken to the West Indies to work the plantations (some of us have Native American blood flowing in our veins and we don't even know it)
- some of the Blacks who fled slavery along the Underground Railroad were so light skinned that they could pass for White. One way in which they evaded capture was for these individuals to pretend that they were slave owners and that the darker Blacks were their slaves.
- I always thought that ocatroons were legally White in the US - not true - one had to be 1/16th Black to be considered legally White
- I didn't realize the extent of mixture between the Black and Native populations.

The wall showing some of the famous people who visited the settlement was very interesting. If memory serves me correctly WEB Dubois, Fredrick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln. There are huge displays showing all the different routes runaway slaves took to get to Canada (also Free Blacks fleeing North after the enactment of the fugitive slave law).

I didn't know that there were Black communities in places like Niagara Fallls and Niagara on the Lake.

Labout Day weekend is a good time to visit the area as there are parades, reanactments of historical events and a lot of celebrations to marke the founding of the settlement.

[Tropicana]

Re: African Canadian Heritage Trail

Uncle Tom's Cabin

As I said before, it wasn't open but I got to peek inside the buildings. The church and the residence were of sound construction and hence they have survived until this day. They were well furnished, reflecting a high standard of living with china, nice cabinets, cooking untensils of the day. The saw mill and smoke house were there and from what I understand they are still operational.

What I don't understand is why the term Uncle Tom came to have a negative meaning. I will never use the term Tomming again. Josiah Henson was a well respected man with great dignity. Watch the version of Uncle Tom's Cabin starring Avery Brookes and you'll see what I mean. If the buildings had been opened, I would have loved to learn more about the settlement in Dresden that Josiah Henson started.

[Tropicana]

Re: African Canadian Heritage Trail

If you decide to follow the African Canadian Heritage Trail in Southwestern Ontario, this site will point you in the right direction:

http://www.ciaccess.com/~jdnewby/heritage/african.htm

Wow...thanks to the moderator who flagged this thread.... Thanks a heap!!

I hope that throughout the month of February people will add to this thread. Lets learn about people of African heritage in Quebec (like the female slave who burned down a good chunk of Montreal as a protest), the Maritimes (remember there is a WHOLE chapter about the Jamaican maroons who were settled in Nova Scotia) and Western Canada - I know NOTHING about that - so if you know, come and share what you know.

[dahjah]

Re: African Canadian Heritage Trail

Nice work Tropsi baby as always.
You are a great soldier for black ppl.

When I first read Bromley and heard about Dresden and how it did jus up de orad from mi. I went looking for the town.
If ppl only knew what racist country this was and still is.

How South Africa modeled the Canadian sytem used against the natives to deal with their natives there.

How dem hangle de chinese and even yt ppl who came from europe and Russia.

Bwoy de history a Canada is not a good one atall.

[dahjah]

Re: African Canadian Heritage Trail

Someday I hope to visit what was once Africville.