The first known Canadian of African descent was Matthew da Costa, a linguist and explorer, who arrived in Port Royal in 1606. He served as an interpreter between the French and the Mi'kmaq and accompanied Samuel de Champlain on his explorations.
- The practice of slavery was extensive throughout Canada during most of our nation's early history. There were nearly 300 slaves in Louisbourg during the 1740s, for example, and many of these served as domestic slaves in the households of both the middle class as well as wealthy families.
- Slaves at Louisbourg worked in a variety of skilled and unskilled trades. Female slaves, such as Marie Marguerite Rose, helped with domestic chores, including child rearing. She served the family of Jean Lippinot, an officer in the French forces, and after being their domestic slave for 18 years, eventually gained her freedom at the age of 39. Marie then married Jean Laurent, a local Mi'kmaq, and together they ran a tavern next door to the Lippinot home.
- More than 3,500 Black Loyalists came to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick at the end of the American Revolution in 1782. Although many left for Sierra Leone because of the hardships they experienced and because of the unfulfilled promises of receiving suitable land for farming, the majority of these Black Loyalists stayed in Canada. The Black Loyalists and their descendants contributed substantially to the culture, economy and history of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
- At the end of the 18th century, Birchtown, Nova Scotia, with a population of 2,500, was the largest metropolitan concentration of free blacks outside of Africa. While Birchtown is no longer an urban centre, it is the site of important ongoing archaeological and historical research.
- Thornton Blackburn came to Canada in 1833 as an escaped slave. Settling in Toronto, Blackburn would later prove to be quite the entrepreneur, creating in 1837 what became the first taxi service in Toronto, a successful business that would run for some 30 years.
- William Peyton Hubbard was Toronto's first black politician, elected as an alderman for the area now encompassing Ward 20 (Trinity-Spadina) in 1894. He was active in politics for many years, and remains Toronto's longest serving city councillor, holding the position of acting mayor in 1904.
- The civil rights movement in Canada paralleled and, in some respects, predated that of the United States. Viola Desmond was a black businesswoman who refused to sit in the balcony of a New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, theatre, but instead sat downstairs, an area designated exclusively for whites. Her action occurred nine years before Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
- Nova Scotia and Ontario allowed public schools to be segregated along racial lines until the 1960s. Schools for blacks had few of the resources of other schools and, not surprisingly, the students often received less than adequate education.
- Africville was a black settlement located on the north end of Halifax along the Bedford Basin. It was founded by black refugees of the War of 1812 and it survived until the Nova Scotia government expropriated the land and relocated the residents in the mid 1960s. Today, Africville stands as a symbol of the vitality of black culture and spirit of community in the struggle for justice and equality.
Visit www.blackhistorycanada.ca for more information about African Canadian history.
- The practice of slavery was extensive throughout Canada during most of our nation's early history. There were nearly 300 slaves in Louisbourg during the 1740s, for example, and many of these served as domestic slaves in the households of both the middle class as well as wealthy families.
- Slaves at Louisbourg worked in a variety of skilled and unskilled trades. Female slaves, such as Marie Marguerite Rose, helped with domestic chores, including child rearing. She served the family of Jean Lippinot, an officer in the French forces, and after being their domestic slave for 18 years, eventually gained her freedom at the age of 39. Marie then married Jean Laurent, a local Mi'kmaq, and together they ran a tavern next door to the Lippinot home.
- More than 3,500 Black Loyalists came to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick at the end of the American Revolution in 1782. Although many left for Sierra Leone because of the hardships they experienced and because of the unfulfilled promises of receiving suitable land for farming, the majority of these Black Loyalists stayed in Canada. The Black Loyalists and their descendants contributed substantially to the culture, economy and history of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
- At the end of the 18th century, Birchtown, Nova Scotia, with a population of 2,500, was the largest metropolitan concentration of free blacks outside of Africa. While Birchtown is no longer an urban centre, it is the site of important ongoing archaeological and historical research.
- Thornton Blackburn came to Canada in 1833 as an escaped slave. Settling in Toronto, Blackburn would later prove to be quite the entrepreneur, creating in 1837 what became the first taxi service in Toronto, a successful business that would run for some 30 years.
- William Peyton Hubbard was Toronto's first black politician, elected as an alderman for the area now encompassing Ward 20 (Trinity-Spadina) in 1894. He was active in politics for many years, and remains Toronto's longest serving city councillor, holding the position of acting mayor in 1904.
- The civil rights movement in Canada paralleled and, in some respects, predated that of the United States. Viola Desmond was a black businesswoman who refused to sit in the balcony of a New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, theatre, but instead sat downstairs, an area designated exclusively for whites. Her action occurred nine years before Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
- Nova Scotia and Ontario allowed public schools to be segregated along racial lines until the 1960s. Schools for blacks had few of the resources of other schools and, not surprisingly, the students often received less than adequate education.
- Africville was a black settlement located on the north end of Halifax along the Bedford Basin. It was founded by black refugees of the War of 1812 and it survived until the Nova Scotia government expropriated the land and relocated the residents in the mid 1960s. Today, Africville stands as a symbol of the vitality of black culture and spirit of community in the struggle for justice and equality.
Visit www.blackhistorycanada.ca for more information about African Canadian history.
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