BlackPast.org Blog: Our Neighbors to the North, The history of Black people in Canada

William Hall 1857 receives Victoria Cross

Hazel Singer sends this post from BlackPast.org Blog on Monday, July 31, 2017:

Our Neighbors to the North

The history of black people in Canada goes back to, and is intertwined with, French and British settler/trader history in both what became Canada and what became United States. An excellent timeline can be found HERE and HERE, covering 1600-the present and divided into four time periods.

The first named black person arrived in Canada in 1605: Mathieu da Costa was a freeman who was hired as a translator for Samuel de Champlain. The American Revolution (blacks who  supported the English left as the political winds blew against that side) and slavery/The Civil War in the United States were both instigators for free and enslaved blacks to find their way to Canada. While many black people in Canada had also arrived enslaved, because Canada had remained part of Britain and France longer than the US had, the laws of abolition enacted in France and Britain earlier encouraged blacks in the US to go north.

The history of Black Canada is a rich one. Early on, blacks were involved in sports, the military, politics, and medicine.  But like the history of blacks in United States, times have not been easy. There are issues of injustice and inequality.  Through all of this, people make art, are successful, work on changing the situations and the narratives. More images of black Canadians can be found HERE (with some black Americans also included!). 

Black Canadians in older, established neighborhoods in various cities are facing issues of gentrification and of having their histories erased or made invisible. In July-Aug 2017, there is a 30 minute documentary at the Vancouver Art Gallery showing three Vancouver black women being interviewed about how the black community in Vancouver, BC is being rendered invisible. It is well worth seeing.

Comment by email:
Thanks, Bill. Warmly, -Hazel [Hazel Singer]