The Black Loyalists Heritage Society - Gibson Woods, Nova Scotia - one of the oldest black settlements in Canada
http://www.destinationliberty.org/sites/site28.html
Gibson Woods, NS B0P
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CANADA MILITARY NEWS- Halifax Explosion- nobody helped the coloureds of NS/White Trash foster kids of WWII/Nova Scotia our black history- Human Rights and Freedoms in Canada- Nelson Mandela-South Africa Canada Dec 7 2013
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/12/canada-military-news-halifax-explosion.html
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CANADA MILITARY NEWS: Canada and Martin Luther King Jr. - “Heaven,” said King, “was the word for Canada.” -SPEECH- Dr. Martin Luther King in Canada - 1a - Massey Lecture 1967 - Conscience for Change /- Diefenbaker- “I am a Canadian, a free Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship God in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” /JOHN F KENNEDY AND HIS VIETNAM WAR- CANADA /How The Civil War Saved Canada /- Vietnam-Draft Dodgers and Vietnam Vets Canada - Canadian Bill of Rights- from 1960/ BRILLIANT - SELMA- John Legend Glory
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2014/09/canada-military-news-sept-1-now-54.html
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeS7AECUobs
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Websites of the community partners: Black Loyalist Heritage Society www.blackloyalist.com African Nova Scotian Music Association www.ansma.com Africville Museum www.africvillemuseum.org Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia www.bccns.com Glace Bay Universal Negro Improvement Association www.unia.webs.com Valley African Nova Scotian Development Association www.vansda.ca3 African Nova Scotian Tourism Network
https://ansa.novascotia.ca/sites/default/files/files/African%20Nova%20Scotian%20Cultural%20Tourism%20Guide.pdf
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saw Ike and Tina Turner at the Arrow's Club early 70s ... Ike and Tina made it a rule - front tables go 2 blacks first then whites.... we found it lucky 2 be young and beautiful and white .... what a show... Gottingen Street was the street of the 70s along with Barrington..... and TO SIR WITH LOVE - Sidney Poitier and Lulu in 1967 (we saw it 7 times).... and Ottis Redding at the Fleet Club... OMG...and the Platters on Spring Garden Road- Halifax Nova Scotia was the place 2 be in the late 60s and 70s...
Lived at the YWCA on Barrington St. in residence - 47 of us and 5 were black... and those of us in secretarial and hair dressing were fast friends... and the rules were strict at the YWCA... and we changed the world...
let me share how bad the segration was and how hard.... Catholics never mixed with other Christian faiths and were hated almost as much as Jews and other races just did NOT count....
People of colour never were allowed 2 live in our little towns..... stipulated in the local town bylaws... and on and on and on... now look at 2 day's world....
and we changed it... we changed it all.. at the grassroots... hard gutwrenching heartbreaking heartwarming work one at a time......the young bloods... now it's your turn...
Breaking the colour barrier
By LOIS LEGGE FEATURES WRITER
Last Updated March 15, 2013 - 10:41am
Features writer Lois Legge recounts the heyday of the Arrow's Club, a Halifax lounge where black patrons and white customers mingled in a way they didn't elsewhere in the city during the 1960s and '70s
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was originally published on May 28, 2010.
BILLY DOWNEY clicks on his old IBM computer and starts playing the past.
"This is what the sound would be (like), " says the 78-year-old former impresario. "This is what you would hear."
And Wilson Pickett sings, "I'm gonna wait 'til the midnight hour."
And then Marvin Gaye – smooth as sin – "Let's get it on."
"This used to turn your people crazy, white people, " laughs the lifelong Halifax resident, scrolling down the gold standard of '60s and '70s soul, the kind of music that brought races together at his pioneering Halifax Arrow's Club.
"I mean just listen and you'd just float into it."
"Whoo–ooh, ooh . . . understand me sugar."
"Oh geez, the girls used to freak. It was just like they were hooked to this dope. You know it was something!"
It was something.
White women and black men, black women and white men mingling in Downey's sheltered little world; a place, with black walls and black ceilings and multi–coloured lights, that dulled the sting of racism, at least for a little while.
EVERYONE WELCOME
Outside, doors closed and smiles faded for many in Halifax's black community. They often heard the n-word. And they often heard "no" when trying to enter city clubs - unofficial segregation, set in stone.
"They never really said we couldn't get in but there always seemed (to be) a reason why you didn't get in, " recalls Lou Gannon, now president of the African Nova Scotian Music Association.
But at Billy Downey's Arrow's Club, between 1962 and 1979, everything was different.
Even in the early days, whites and blacks drank and danced together, well into the wee hours. And for just a time, they washed away the colour lines that were sure to rise by morning.
By day, Downey worked the trains for Canadian National Railway. He started as a porter shining shoes and making beds - and hearing dirty racial slurs all along the rails.
"We were dirt under their feet, " he recalls, sitting in his Maynard Street apartment, images of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela looking down from the walls.
But for many nights, he was the emperor of equality, the ringmaster of rhythm and blues, the trailblazer for troubled times - founder of a little club that eventually attracted some of the biggest names in show business.
Ben E. King, Teddy Pendergrass, the Bluenotes, Ike and Tina Turner all came to shake, rattle and roll.
And some of the biggest names in Nova Scotia business and politics, former premier Gerald Regan, developer Ralph Medjuck, cabinet minister Scott McNutt, came to listen.
Other cabinet ministers too. And Atlantic premiers. And Voyageur hockey players. And then – Montreal Canadiens coach Claude Ruel.
Students, doctors, lawyers and sailors.
And Black Panther Stokely Carmichael.
"I rubbed shoulders with everybody in town then, " says Downey, honoured last year with the African Nova Scotian Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award.
The citation, written by member Delvina Bernard, calls him a pioneer and trailblazer, "a man who had a special destiny"; a man who helped a generation "believe in the power of music to transform a city and the larger social world."
But the Arrow's Club and its founder came from humble beginnings.
Downey opened the establishment in 1962 after renovating a condemned house on Creighton Street - just a pool table and a jukebox. It was the first "black" club in the city.
And it was worlds away from south–end Halifax, where he'd helped his father deliver coal to white people as boy or tony Spring Garden Road where he started shining shoes at 14.
HUMBLE START
Six months later, his licensed, private club on Creighton - which he named after a segregated hockey team he played for in the 50s - moved to Agricola Street, opened its doors to everyone and launched a mini cultural revolution.
Lesser–known but stellar black entertainers, who played the "black" entertainment circuit from the U.S. to Montreal, came first. Then A–listers or soon–to–be A–listers rolled through the Agricola hot spot, and later the club's Brunswick Street location - home of The Palace today.
That first old house is long gone and the Agricola property, the first in the city to be granted a license to open until 3:30 a.m., is long–since re–modeled.
But Downey's memories remain.
And oh - the memories.
One of them hangs above his computer, an autographed picture of Lotsa Poppa, "400 pounds of soul, " a big man with a big voice who toured with legends like James Brown, Wilson Pickett and Sam Cooke.
"Billy you are my number one friend in Halifax, " writes the entertainer born Julius High Jr.
Lotsa Poppa is a lot smaller now. He can't move or speak like he used to but those long–ago times come back in songs over the long distance line.
"Of course I remember, " he says from his Atlanta nursing home bed. "I remember a nice crowd. . . . I became friends with Billy, Billy Downey and the Arrow's Club. I used to sing: "I don't want a soooooooul hangin' around my house when I get home."
"Yeah, that's what I would sing."
And a little Sam Cooke. "It's been a long, a long time comin' and I know, change gonna come."
"I would play like two weeks at a time. Oh my goodness yeah, I was there four or five times. . . I'd be glad to get back there."
"I'll do a little James Brown . . . adds the 74–year–old. "Ow!"
"Oh, every night, " he says of the Arrow's. "All kinds of people, all kinds of people."
Downey fondly recalls all kinds of singers. He loved Lotsa Poppa of course. And cover acts like Little Royal, who imitated James Brown. And big stars like Ike and Tina, who he first met at Montreal's multi–racial Esquire Show Bar.
That's where he first got the idea to create a similar Halifax club for high–end performers and people of all races.
IKE AND TINA ON STAGE
He used to stop over at the Montreal club on three–day train runs to the city. There he drank with the man so vividly portrayed later - in the Hollywood movie What's Love Got to Do with It - as a wife abuser.
"They used to (perform there) and Ike was a big drinker and he had Tina under control, " recalls the father of three and grandfather of six.
"I mean whatever (Ike) said, had to be. And he used to take his guitar and hit her. We used to see him do that even in practice. He'd tell her "shake yourself, " and man that girl could shake out of this world.
"And I used to buy them drinks. . . . I used to drink a lot and . . . I used to buy the entertainers drinks. Tina was just a quiet girl because she was scared to death of Ike."
On stage though, at the Esquire or the Arrow's - where the couple performed in the early 1970s - things were different. She wailed and she shook and she sang like nobody's business.
"The girl - she could move, " Downey says. "I mean she had everything, Tina."
DISCO WAS DOWNFALL
And there were so many more, Teddy Pendergrass, just starting out, on the stage with just a guitar. And South African singer Miriam Makeba, who came to the club in 1967 or '68 with her husband Stokely Carmichael.
On that occasion, Downey, who'd been away working on the trains, arrived at the club by taxi and noticed it was surrounded by police. He figured there'd been a fight but the driver told him Carmichael was inside with local black leaders and "the police are scared that they're talking this black power."
A sergeant outside told him "we don't need this in Halifax."
The police didn't go inside but Downey did, walking to the upstairs level of the club to invite Carmichael and his wife downstairs to hear the entertainment.
"He said, 'If I go down you have to segregate the club, ' " Downey recalls. "He said, 'I can't sit with no whites.' I said, 'Oh no . . . I can't do that . . . half of my clientele is white.'
Downey says Carmichael and Makeba eventually came down and sat by other black people. But he told them he wouldn't stop whites from joining them.
And then Makeba sang with Lotsa Poppa. "Man!" he recalls. "They tore up the place!"
He remembers so many other moments - like the songs that keep playing as he spins through the years - including Robert Stanfield dropping in to see the place one of his daughters kept praising and leaving quickly, none too pleased. And all his own drinking and "carousing, " and partying that eventually broke up his marriage.
He wishes that didn't happen.
And he wishes the club didn't have to close.
But Downey says he didn't see disco coming; didn't change with the times fast enough. Besides, his brother Graham, a partner in the business who'd held down the fort when Billy worked on the trains, became a city alderman and just didn't have the time anymore.
So, the Arrow's closed.
But not before helping usher in a new day and a new way.
"There was no sense of not belonging, " says the music association's Gannon, a waiter at the club who used to play there with his band Stone Free in the late '60s and early '70s.
"When you got there, it didn't matter who you were."
LOVED DEARLY
Downey also gave local musicians a chance to drink in the top talent and to perform on the Arrow's stage.
"I worked there, I played there and I went there the same as everybody else, to party, " Gannon recalls with a laugh. "I mean both these clubs . . . (on Agricola and Brunswick) . . . that was the place you had to be."
"I loved it dear, " Downey says of the place he created.
"Loved every moment of it."
And the Delfonics sing -"I gave my heart and soul to you girl. Didn't I do it baby? Didn't I do it baby?"
( llegge@herald.ca)
http://thechronicleherald.ca/artslife/1001081-breaking-the-colour-barrier
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NOVA SCOTIA- HERITAGE DAY
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http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/08/nova-scotia-icon-canadian-hero-rocky.html
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http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2013/07/nova-scotias-black-loyalists-canadas.html
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HONOURING MARCUS GARVEY- LEADER OF UNITED NEGRO IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION - 1937 VISITING AFRICVILLE-NOVA SCOTIA- famous speech- Bob Marley honours
1937 – Marcus Garvey, the leader of the United Negro Improvement Association, visited Africville and gave a very important speech to the local community at the African Methodist Church. Subsquently in the 1970s singer Bob Marley referenced the speech given in Halifax in his song “Redemption Song”.
Bob Marley - Redemption Song (from the legend album, with lyrics)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrY9eHkXTa4
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Black Canadians
Black people have lived in Canada since the beginnings of transatlantic settlement. Although historically very few have arrived directly from their ancestral homeland in the continent of Africa, the term "African Canadian" became increasingly popular in the 1990s to identify all descendants of Africa regardless of their place of birth.
Migration
Olivier Le Jeune is the first slave to have been transported directly from Africa to Canada. He was sold in 1629 in Québec, but apparently died a free man. From then until the British Conquest (1759-60) approximately 1000 black people brought from New England or the West Indies were enslaved in New France. Local records indicate that by 1759 there had been a cumulative total of 3604 slaves in New France, including 1132 of African origin. Most of the slaves lived in or near Montréal. Slavery, which prospered in economies dependent upon one crop, mass production and gang labour, did not develop strongly among these colonists, but under British rule it was given new life.The Loyalists brought about 2000 black slaves with them into British North America, but 3500 free blacks, who had won their freedom through allegiance to Britain, emigrated at the same time, settling in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Within 2 decades, slavery had virtually disappeared among the Loyalists.
In 1793 Upper Canada became the only colony to legislate for the abolition (though gradual) of slavery. With no prospect of new imports, slavery declined steadily. By 1800 courts in other parts of British North America had effectively limited the expansion of slavery, though as late as 1816 an advertisement for a runaway slave appeared in the Royal Gazette. On 28 August 1833 the British Parliament passed a law abolishing slavery in all British North American colonies; the law came into effect 1 August 1834.
Black migration to British North America in 1796 included a band of Jamaican Maroons, descendants of black slaves who had escaped from the Spanish and later the British rulers of Jamaica and who were feared and respected for their courage. Then, between 1813 and 1816, 2000 slaves who had sought refuge behind British lines during the War of 1812 were taken to Nova Scotia. The largest number of American blacks arrived in Canada independently, using a network of secret routes known as the Underground Railroad.
By the time of the American Civil War, it is estimated that around 30 000 fugitives had found their way to Canada. This included about 800 free African Americans who migrated from California to Vancouver Island in the late 1850s seeking to escape the racial discrimination that was imposed by law in their home state.
With the end of American slavery in 1865, many thousands of African Canadians returned to the US, although because of American legal inequalities small groups of black Americans continued to move into Canada. From Oklahoma more than 1000 blacks moved to the Canadian Prairies, particularly Alberta, 1909-11. The black population in Canada did not increase substantially, however, until the 1960s, when changes in the Immigration Act removed a bias against nonwhite immigrants and permitted large numbers of qualified West Indians and Africans to enter Canada. This major influx of black people has greatly outnumbered the original black population in every Canadian region except the Maritimes (between 1950 and 1995 there were about 300 000 immigrants from the West Indies and over 150 000 from Africa - including persons of Asian and European descent).
Settlement Patterns
Most of the black Loyalists, Maroons and refugees in the Maritimes were located by government policy in segregated communities on the outskirts of larger white towns. Many of the slaves owned by white Loyalists were taken to the Eastern Townships of Québec. Halifax, Shelburne, Digby and Guysborough in Nova Scotia and Saint John and Fredericton in New Brunswick had all-black settlements in their immediate neighbourhoods. In Ontario the Underground Railroad fugitives also tended to concentrate in settlements, less as a consequence of government policy than for the sake of mutual support and protection against white Canadian prejudice and discrimination and American kidnappers.Most of Ontario's black settlements were in and around Windsor, Chatham, London, St Catharines and Hamilton. Toronto had a black district, and there were smaller concentrations of blacks near Barrie, Owen Sound and Guelph. Saltspring Island and the city of Victoria were the main locations for black settlers in 19th-century British Columbia. Migrants to Alberta early in the 20th century established several rural settlements around Edmonton. Until recently, most of Canada's black population was relatively isolated not only from whites but from other black communities. The pattern began to break down in the 1930s and 1940s as rural blacks migrated to the cities in search of jobs. Many of the original black settlements were abandoned or considerably depopulated.
The new black migration from the West Indies and Africa has been overwhelmingly directed towards the cities. African Canadians are now among the most urbanized of all Canada's ethnic groups. White Canadian attitudes have been changing in the generation since World War II, and although urban blacks still face discrimination, the pressures for segregation no longer apply.
Economic Life
The black Loyalists, Maroons and refugees met with numerous obstacles in trying to establish themselves in the Maritimes. The small land grants they received could not permit self-sufficiency through agriculture. Forced to seek occasional labouring jobs in neighbouring white towns, the black pioneers were vulnerable to exploitation and discrimination in employment and wages. Throughout the Maritimes blacks received smaller allotments of farmland and lower wages than whites. Poverty was thus a basic component in the early black experience.Partly as a result of poor conditions in their new country, substantial numbers of blacks left Nova Scotia and New Brunswick for Sierra Leone in West Africa. In 1792 almost 1200 black Loyalists sailed from Halifax to found the new settlement of Freetown. Their descendants can still be identified there today. Then in 1800 over 500 Maroons followed the same route to Sierra Leone. Their arrival coincided with a rebellion of the black Loyalist settlers against their British governors. By siding with the colonial authorities, the Maroons ensured the failure of the rebellion. In 1820 some 95 refugee blacks left Halifax for Trinidad.
The fugitive blacks who had arrived in Ontario via the Underground Railroad typically arrived destitute, and without government land grants were usually forced to become labourers on the lands of others, although some farmed their own land successfully, and some worked for the Great Western Railway.
Many individual fugitives, particularly those who migrated to Victoria, BC, in the 1850s brought skills or savings which enabled them to establish small businesses. Many also worked on farms or in shops on the new wharf at Esquimalt, BC. Until well into the 20th century, however, most African Canadians were employed in the lower-paying service categories or as unskilled labour.
Many young blacks are now entering businesses, professions and trades, but according to 1991 census figures, black Canadians still received lower average wages than white Canadians. Recent West Indian and African immigrants have generally possessed a high level of skills, education and experience, and are found in every occupational category.
Community and Cultural Life
In their concentrated settlements the early blacks had the opportunity to retain cultural characteristics and create a distinct community. Styles of worship, music and speech, family structures and group traditions developed in response to the conditions of life in Canada. The chief institutional support was the separate church, usually Baptist or Methodist (see Methodism), created when white congregations refused to admit blacks as equal members.The churches' spiritual influence pervaded daily life and affected the vocabulary, routines and ambitions of their members. Inevitably, they assumed a major social and political role and the clergy became the natural community leaders. The many fraternal organizations, mutual-assistance bands, temperance societies and antislavery groups formed by 19th-century blacks were almost always associated with one of the churches. In the 20th century the churches led the movement for greater educational opportunity and for civil rights.
In slavery black women were forced to work to support themselves, and economic circumstances perpetuated this tradition in Canada. Black women have always played an important economic role in family life and have experienced considerable independence as a result. Raised in a communal fashion, frequently by their grandparents or older neighbours, black children developed family-like relationships throughout the local community. A strong sense of group identity and mutual reliance, combined with the unique identity provided by the churches, produced an intimate community life and a refuge against white discrimination.
A tradition of intense loyalty to Britain and Canada developed among blacks from the beginning of their settlement in Canada. The black Loyalists fought to maintain British rule in America, and their awareness that an American invasion could mean their re-enslavement prompted them to participate in Canada's military defence. Black militiamen fought against American troops in the War of 1812, were prominent in subduing the Rebellions of 1837 and later helped to repel the Fenian incursions.
For a period in the 1860s the largely self-financed Black Pioneer Rifle Corps was the only armed force protecting Vancouver Island, although it was later denied the opportunity to participate in the Vancouver Island Volunteer Rifle Corps. During WWI blacks were initially rejected by recruitment offices, but persistent volunteering finally resulted in the creation of a separate black corps, The Nova Scotia No. 2 Construction Battalion.
Urbanization and increasing secularization have changed the role of the church and the local community, and the new immigrants are bringing their own Caribbean and African heritages to Canada, though they too are adapting them to the conditions of Canadian life. There is no longer a single black Canadian tradition, but the historic values of a people who sought freedom in Canada continue to influence black institutions and attitudes today.
Education
British charitable organizations sponsored schools in most of the Maritime black communities beginning in the 1780s and, during the 19th century, British and American societies established schools for blacks throughout Ontario. In addition the governments of both Nova Scotia and Ontario created legally segregated public schools. Although almost every black community had access to either a charity or a public school, funding was inadequate and education tended to be inferior. When combined with residential isolation and economic deprivation, poor schooling helped to perpetuate a situation of limited opportunity and restricted mobility. In 1965 the last segregated school in Ontario closed.With urbanization black children were admitted into integrated city schools. Until recently the average black person had a lower educational level than the average white, but the new migration is changing this situation dramatically. Black immigrants have a higher standard of educational achievement, on average, than the overall Canadian population. In addition, special programs, such as the Transition Year Program at Dalhousie University, are correcting the long-standing heritage of educational disadvantage.
Politics
The law in Canada, with few major exceptions, has insisted on the legal equality of blacks. Until Confederation this meant English law, and black voters were inclined to support Conservative candidates committed to the preservation of British ties. Since Confederation blacks have been active in every political party and over the past 30 years have been elected as Conservatives, Liberals and New Democrats.Though blacks have never formed a large enough group to wield direct political influence, several individual blacks have made significant contributions to political affairs. There have been black municipal councillors and school trustees for more than a century, most notably Mifflin Gibbs, who sat on the Victoria City Council in the 1860s and was a delegate to the Yale Convention deliberating BC's entry into Confederation, and William Hubbard, who served as councillor, controller and acting mayor of Toronto 1894-1907.
Leonard Braithwaite was the first African Canadian in a provincial legislature when he was elected in Ontario in 1963, and Lincoln Alexander from Hamilton became the first black federal member in 1968. Emery Barnes and Rosemary Brown were both elected in the 1970s to the BC legislature. New honours were achieved in the 1980s when Lincoln Alexander became lieutenant-governor of Ontario, Alvin Curling joined the Ontario Cabinet, Anne Cools was appointed to the Senate and Howard McCurdy of Windsor, Ontario, was elected to the House of Commons. In 1990 Donald Oliver of Halifax joined the Senate and Zanana Akande became a member of the Ontario Cabinet, the first black woman to achieve Cabinet rank in Canada. In 1993 Wayne Adams entered the Nova Scotian Cabinet and in the federal election that year 3 black MPs were elected: Jean Augustine, Hedy Fry and Ovid Jackson. Hedy Fry, from Vancouver, was appointed to the Cabinet in 1996.
Group Maintenance
Historically the rural black community served to buffer the effects of discrimination and in its protective atmosphere a distinctive black identity evolved. The co-operative strength of community life enabled continual probings against racial limitations, but they were not successful in destroying the barriers entirely.The diversified origin of today's black population makes a unified group identity less than apparent, yet whatever their background, African Canadians face a typical set of problems. Opinion surveys and provincial human-rights commission reports reveal that racism survives and that blacks still face discrimination in employment, accommodation and public services. This creates the basis of a common experience and encourages a common response. Fostered by black newspapers, magazines and community organizations, and enriched by greater numbers and cultural variety, a new and broader black community is being developed in the modern Canadian city.
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/black-canadians/
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Crimean War Monument- Halifax Nova Scotia- the oldest and only one in Canada
Crimean War
Welsford-Parker
Monument, Halifax, Nova
Scotia - Only Crimean War Monument in
North America
Nova
Scotians fought in the Crimean War. The Welsford-Parker
Monument in Halifax is the second oldest war monument in Canada and
the only Crimean War monument in North America. Another Nova Scotian soldier
who fought with distinction during the Crimean war was Sir
William Williams, 1st Baronet, of Kars (after whom Port Williams, Nova
Scotia and Karsdale, Nova Scotia
are named).
In the
wake of the Crimean War, the second black military unit in Canada (the first in
Nova Scotia) was formed, Victoria Rifles
(Nova Scotia) (1860).
Taught Sunday School 4 many years and always students took part in Remembrance Day.... and always knew the history of the incredible William Hall but surprised in the 90s that Nova Scotia history and Legions had so little information.... u know us old folks from the 60s... when we look at all the battles on the grassroots (because youngbloods... that's where u change the world) levels fighting the good fights 4 our brothers and sisters of Canada and equality was so uneven .... and knowing that 2 change our world so our children could truly understand human dignity and basic human rights means each and all.... we sacrificed a lot... and we gained a lot... and people like Victoria Cross William Hall- made our Nova Scotia... our Canada the greatness she is 2day... it was all worth it...
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And
here appears to be a hero not listed.... and was wondering if you could include
his name sir.
WILLIAM
NEILSON HALL FOR CONSPICUOUS BRAVERY- FROM NOVA SCOTIA
Born
in Horton Bluff, NS, Hall was the first black, the first Nova Scotian, and the
first Canadian naval recipient of the Victoria Cross (courtesy Library and
Archives Canada/C-18743).
For
most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or
self-sacrifice or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy."
Such dry words to describe the courage and daring ascribed to the Victoria
Cross (VC), the Commonwealth's highest decoration for bravery
William
Neilson Hall, the son of former slaves, won the VC for his actions on behalf of
the Crown during the Indian Mutiny. He was the first Canadian naval recipient,
the first black and the first Nova Scotian to win the prestigious medal.
Hall
was serving in the Far East aboard the HMS Shannon in June 1857 when the
Sepoys of the Indian Army of the East India Company mutinied. The insurrection
spread rapidly, fuelled by resentment against the colonizing British and
sparked into flame by the rumour that the Sepoys' Enfield rifle cartridges were
greased with the fat of pigs and cows. Contact with them would destroy the
Mohammedan's purity and the Hindu caste.
Nearby
British warships were dispatched to Indian ports, the Shannon to
Calcutta, where the captain received orders to send men overland to Cawnpore
and Lucknow.
Cawnpore,
an important military post on the Ganges River, was guarded lightly by the
British, its commander, Sir Hugh Wheeler, having faith in the loyalty of his
Sepoy troops. The Cawnpore 2nd Cavalry mutinied on June 5. The Sepoys
outnumbered the British and quickly gained the advantage. They killed every
white person, believing that if all the whites were dead, the British would not
retake the city. Help arrived too late.
The
Lucknow garrison, under Sir Henry Lawrence, was surrounded by rebels. The
British force there was prepared for battle and put up a good fight waiting for
reinforcement. Relief columns fighting their way to the garrisons were badgered
by Sepoy rebels. The "Shannon Brigade" made its way up the
Ganges to Allahabad. They began the arduous overland journey on September 2,
dragging eight ship's guns to take back the garrisons, and suffered many
losses. The guns proved useful for fighting their way forward. Each required
six men to operate it; each man was numbered, beginning with the officer in
charge. If that officer were killed or wounded, number two man would move up
into his position, and so on. The system avoided confusion and kept the gun
firing.
As
the Shannon group advanced toward Cawnpore, the Sepoys' attacks
intensified. The naval force was joined in Cawnpore by Sir Colin Campbell and
his Highlanders. They began the treacherous 72-km trek to Lucknow, where the
British — soldiers, women and children — had retreated to the Residency and
were held down by the Sepoys. Escape was impossible with the narrows streets
under rebel control.
They
reached Lucknow in November. Campbell needed to take the outer walls and fight
his way through the streets to reach the Residency. He launched the main attack
from the southeast, where the mutineers' line was disrupted by the jungle. On
the west of Lucknow stood a huge mosque, the Shah Najaf, from which issued a
deadly hail of musket balls and grenades. The British had to take the mosque,
but without scaling ladders and with a 6-metre wall to surmount, they had to
breech the walls. They dragged the guns to within 350 metres of the wall,
banging shell after shell at it, making little impact. The guns had to move
closer.
The
sailors dragged the guns up, sustaining heavy casualties in the process. The
mosque walls were loopholed in such a way that the naval gunners were safe from
fire at a certain point. But every shot from the big guns caused them to recoil
back into the fire zone. Soon only Hall and one officer, Lt Thomas Young, who
was wounded, were still standing to man their gun. Hall, now Number One on the
gun, kept loading and firing, dragging it back after every recoil, over and
over. Finally the wall was breached sufficiently to allow a number of
Highlanders to scramble through and open the gate to admit the rest of the
force. For his heroic actions that November 16, 1857, Hall was awarded the
Victoria Cross. He served in the Royal Navy until 1876, then retired in Horton
Bluff, NS, where he lived until his death.
Laura
Neilson Bonikowsky is the Associate Editor of The Canadian Encyclopedia.
-
SIDE
BAR
From your site (and ours)- searched
history and heritage
victoria cross gallary
OMG... i AM SOOOO SORRY NOT ON HERE
NOR HERE..
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BLOGGED:
NOVA SCOTIA'S BLACK LOYALISTS-Canada's Checkerboard Army- Segregated Schools Nova Scotia -telling the truth-CANADA'S MILITARY- the honour, dignity, intelligence, duty- Boer, WWI WWII , Korea, Desert Storm, Afghanistan, UN Peacekeepers- CANADA PURE
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DORIS EVANS- and former teachers of Segregated Schools Nova Scotia
TELLING THE TRUTH: SEGREGATED BLACK
SCHOOLS IN NOVA SCOTIA Doris Evans (Fannie Brothers' sister) and Gertrude
Tynes- teachers wrote this....
Book Review
by DORIS EVANS*
Speech delivered to the September,
1990 reunion of retired teachers of segregated schools
Shunpiking Magazine
Black History & African Heritage
Supplement
February/March, 2000, Volume 5, Number
32
WE ARE GATHERED here tonight for the
purpose of reflecting on the History of our Black Schools and what we have done
or can do to bring about progress. I come to you, not as a historian, nor an
expert but as an experienced teacher-retiree of Nova Scotia, with a sincere
interest in the educational matters of students and the community at large.
I would like to reflect on a couple of
experiences of my own so you can understand from whence I have come. The
students of the community where I lived were attending an integrated school. We
had a few problems, etc., but we had managed to get through. When I reached
grade nine at this two-room school, my problems started. The proprietor of the
general store, where the members of the Black Community purchased all of their
groceries, garden tools, some clothing, etc., would be sending his daughter to
school in the fall. He did not want his daughter to attend school with the
"coloured kids." The Trustees purchased a piece of property from an
individual of the Black Community who had no children attending school. A new
one-room school opened in the Black Community in September. The teacher they
hired could not teach grade nine. What was I to do? I then had to go back to
the school from which I had come, knowing that I was not wanted. I was
determined to get my education so I went, sat in the corner all year, worked
hard, wrote my exams, passed and went on to the Kings County Academy. No
problems there. I graduated and went to the Provincial Normal College.
On graduation, the Inspector of
Schools addressed us and told the graduates where there were openings for
teachers. He came to me (the only Black student in the graduating class) and
told me there were two schools with openings for teachers -- Partridge River at
East Preston and Hammonds Plains School. I knew neither community so I chose
the first on the list. The beginning of my teaching career was at East Preston.
Past experiences have shown us some of
the reasons for not being educated. Years ago there were no schools. Our
forefathers were not allowed to learn. Often times if you had a white friend
whom was attending school, that friend would come home and help you to read and
write. And that individual would, in return, help their younger brothers and
sisters.
The friends and residents of the Black
Communities saw the need to have their own schools, as they were not allowed to
attend schools near their area. The first of the segregated schools were small,
one-room facilities heated by a wood stove. Oil lamps provided lighting. Water
was brought in containers (pails), for drinking purposes. The seats were large
enough to seat two, and sometimes three students, in one. They had outdoor
bathroom facilities. Only the basic material was available for teaching in the
early days, a slate, chalk; later days, chalk, chalk boards, pencils,
scribblers, readers, etc. On many occasions teachers bought newspapers,
catalogues, books of their own and paper to be used by the students. Some
prepared their own reading material. Salaries were very low, and when you
received it depended on when the property taxes were paid by the residents.
From conversations with elders, I
learned that in one community (Middle Sackville) Black children lived very
close to the school attended by the majority, but were not allowed to attend
because of their race. It was then that a concerned citizen of the white
community (Mrs. Plessa Caldwell) began teaching the Black students in her
kitchen. These children were being given the opportunity to get some schooling
because someone cared.
As time went on, most of the Black
communities had either renovated the existing building or built new facilities
to accommodate the growing population of students.
These facilities were one room, two
rooms, three rooms and in some cases were larger. They had electricity,
furnaces for heating, and indoor bathroom facilities. One community, North
Preston, had two schools; which also has the only segregated school left in
Nova Scotia. Home Economics and Industrial Arts were taught by circuit
teachers. Amid all the inconveniences which we encountered in these schools,
one aspect of teaching in a segregated school which we cherished was the Annual
Christmas Concerts. The students would go "all out" to take part --
say recitations, take part in the singing of the favourite songs, and acting in
plays about Christmas events. It was beautiful! These events will always be
remembered!
Many teachers for the Black schools
were extracted from the high schools with no training. They were given a permit
to teach in that particular school. They were hard-working, dedicated,
concerned individuals; often times they attended summer school at various
universities to upgrade themselves. And in some cases, there were those persons
who broke the bonds that had held others back and became registered teachers. I
recall, after I had graduated from high school, that the Inspector of Schools
came to my home and asked my parents if I would be allowed to teach that year
instead of attending the Normal College. I, or I should say my parents,
refused. I thank them for that.
During the teachers' first years of
teaching, they realized their duties were not confined to the classroom. They
were expected to know the parents of the pupils so that they might understand
the background of the children. They were expected to see that habits of
courtesy and health were carried over from the classroom to the home. They must
observe and correct all the physical defects and try to eliminate faulty mental
and physical habits, no easy task, when much of the children's lives were lived
out of her sight and beyond her jurisdiction.
The teacher's attention and services
were not considered to be property of her pupils alone. They were to take part
in community activities; not just to come and sit comfortably and enjoy
themselves but get in there and make the project a success. The parents looked
to them for guidance and advice not only concerning the welfare of their
children, but of any other matter pertaining to the community.
Behaviour and my experience
Teachers were respected by members of
the community and, if a problem arose at school with the students, teachers
were usually backed by the parents.
I would like to tell you an experience
I had with a grade nine student. During this particular geography class, one
young man was talking and not doing his seat work. I asked him to stop talking.
He did, but in a few minutes he was back at it again! After speaking to him
twice, I reminded him that if he couldn't stop, and it happened again, I was
going to send him home. After a few minutes, he was back at it again! As I had
told him before: if he continued to talk, I would send him home. I had to do
it. He begged me to please let him stay. I said, "Go Home". He went.
The next morning at school, a knock came at the door. I answered. It was the
young man and his father. His father said, "You'll have no more trouble
with_______! I didn't.
In some cases, students were able to
slip into the realm of getting a higher education, but the majority of students
were not allowed. After receiving their education at the segregated schools,
there was nowhere to go, so they dropped out of school and took a job (if they
could get one). Later on, adult classes were provided for those who wished to
upgrade themselves, and prepare them to write exams (GED). This has been in
effect for many years.
In the 1950s, some changes took place.
All schools in the Halifax County area were taken over by the Halifax County
Municipal School Board and I presume all schools in Nova Scotia did likewise.
This included salaries for teachers along with materials -- long a problem.
Integration of schools came about.
Students could now further their education by attending schools in other areas
to hopefully graduate and be able to continue their studies at a university
level if they preferred.
This is a good policy, but there are
some problems regarding that. Racism is one. As long as racism exists in the
school system, there will be problems. Two things I have encountered in the
school system is stereotyping and double standards -- one set for Blacks, one
for the majority. This is where we have to take a stand and be vocal.
Consolidation of schools was
instituted which would encourage integration. Many of the Black segregated
schools were closed and students bused to schools outside of the community.
Some parents didn't like the idea of their children always being bussed from
the communities but did feel the importance of their children being integrated
at an early age. A parent told me one time that a student at the school where
her daughter attended told her daughter, "My mom said if you were white,
you could be my friend." There is where the problems lie.
While teaching at Partridge River, and
schools were built to provide integration, I often said to myself, "Can I
teach other children." In 1970 when Ross Road School was built -- with
students from five other schools feeding into that school, one being Partridge
River -- I decided to prove to myself that I can teach anyone regardless of colour.
I was there 15 years, enjoyed most of my time there and learned a lot.
I've already mentioned the first young
man. Now I'll tell you of an experience at the integrated school. Again a young
man was talking. I told him if he couldn't control his talking that I would
send him outside in the hall. After a few minutes his friend raised his hand. I
said "Yes." He said, "Chris says if you put your hands on him,
his mother will sue you." I told him, "Don't worry! We'll handle that
when it happens."
In 1966, another important factor in
the lives of the Black students was the forming of the Education Incentive
Program for Black Students, initiated by the Negro Education Council (now the
Black Educators Association). Gus Wedderburn and I, along with others, were
members of that Council. This program gives bursaries to Black students who
qualify to further their education through universities or other institutions.
Although this program is approximately 27-years-old, members of the majority
community do not understand the objectives. They often talk about, 'Blacks
getting paid to go to school.'
In the early years of integration, as
well as before, it was very difficult for the students to learn about the
achievements of Blacks. Many Blacks have contributed, in many ways, to the
welfare of our country. But that history appears to be "Lost, Stolen or
Strayed." Students were unable to have any self-esteem because they had
always been "put down," and they knew nothing of the past
contributions of the Blacks. Today black history has been incorporated in the
curriculum but it is merely a course for whosoever wants to take it. I feel
that it should be incorporated in the Social Studies Program -- starting with
the elementary grades.
The Black Educators Association was
formed in 1969 to assist communities throughout the province to develop strategies
to improve the quality of education for Blacks. ...
The Black Professional Women's group
organized in 1969. They wanted to seek ways to improve some of the poor
conditions which existed in the schools (segregated). Their objectives were to
develop awareness through educational, cultural, and social means and also to
provide a bursary to assist Black female students who would be attending
institutions of higher learning.
The Black Cultural Centre, 1983, is a
centre for the preservation and protection of Black Culture. It depicts
pictures, photographs, artifacts, and documents, providing an opportunity for
Black residents to learn more about themselves and have a deep sense of pride
and identity amongst themselves. It is also for the general public to learn
about the contributions Blacks have made to society.
To the teachers
I know that you have the foresight to
know that you can make a difference in the lives of your students. Believe in
them. If you are concerned and interested in the success of all children, you
will make a difference.
A little boy in grade two said to his
teacher, "Teacher, you always tell me when you are disappointed in me, how
come you do not tell me when you are appointed in me?"
Two teachers from Bell Park Academic
Centre have produced a video that can be used to show how Black history can be
taught in the elementary schools. This has been widely accepted by the
department of education and is used quite widely in schools. Challenge your
students to be the best they can be.
To the retirees
Although you have retired from the teaching
profession, there is still an opportunity for you to be of use in society.
There is always something you can become involved in.
To everyone
My motto, from my first day of
teaching, has been, "If I can help somebody as I go along, then my living
shall not be in vain."
* Slightly edited for the purposes of
this publication from Telling the Truth: Reflections on the History of
Segregated Schools, Doris Evans and Gertrude Tynes, Lancelot Press, 1995. Since
her retirement, Mrs. Evans has taught job entry programs and career exploration
for women, and served as a resource person for the Literacy Nova Scotia
Advisory Council on the Preston Area Learning Skills Program, North Preston.
Photo cptions
Weymouth Falls
Weymouth Falls School, built in the
late 1800s. 70-80 students were taught in one room.
Partridge River
Partridge River School staff, East
Preston, in the 1950s.
Henry
The two-room Henry G. Bauld School was
built in 1949 for the children of the Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children.
It became a community centre after it was closed in 1967.
Gidson's woods
Gibson's Wood School, just outside
Kentville. The children of this community attended an integrated school until
1941, when trustees of the Centreville School dictated that Black students
should be segregated. The school was a one-room facility with outdoor
bathrooms, no electricty, and a wood stove. Drinking water was provided in a
water jug. After the first few years, no qualified Black teachers were
available for this school.
New Convoy
The Acaciaville School, Digby County,
was opened in the late 1800s when two communities, Acaciaville and Joggins-New
Conway, united to build it. In this one-room school, primary to grade three was
taught in the morning and grade four to eight in the afternoon.
Upper Big Tracadie
Upper Big Tracadie School in
Guysborough County. A one-room school with grades primary to grade seven, it
existed until around 1958 when consolidation took place and local schools were
integrated.
The September 7-9, 1990 reunion of
retired teachers from Nova Scotia's segregated schools, at the Black Cultural
Centre of Nova Scotia
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NOVA SCOTIA CERT. OF FREEDOM - Black Loyalists 1783 certificate
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CAMADOAM William Hall, V.C.: The Naval
Veteran (2:44 min.)
William Hall, V.C. was born in
Summerville and was the first member of the Navy from British North America to
receive the Victoria Cross, the most prestigious of military medals. William
received the medal for a heroic rescue that he participated in during the
Indian Uprising of 1758. The rescue mission captured the imagination of the
Victorian public: the mission was known to every school boy in the Empire.
While initially buried without military honours in an unmarked grave, William
was later buried beneath a stone cairn on the lawn of the Baptist Church in
Hantsport, Hants Co..
The Black Battalion- Canada
Juanita Pleasant Wilbur of Kentville,
Nova Scotia, Canada
They came two hundred to answer the
call
But only to fall
Their way was not paved
For a country they wanted to save
The battle cry went out
But these men were ousted
Their colour was wrong
Their courage strong
From battle line to battle line they
went
But no one wanted them
A checker-board army they were called
Their courage strong they still
persisted
For the right to fight for a country
they loved
For the right to live as all men
Free and strong
The march was on, their will was
strong
From place to place they went
Rejected by all, their cry was heard
Let us do our best
Don't let us be less
Give us a chance to build a life for
our children
Let us make our mark
Give us a chance to stand proud and
free
Rejected and tired of waiting
They finally saw the light
You're on a flight
Over-seas you're bound
At last you found your place
A checker-board army has been born
A remembrance to my Grand-dad, Private
Wallace James Pleasant and all the black men who fought and became know as
Canada's best kept secret.
We love you all so much.... to my
Fannie (Clement) Brothers and to my Debbie Pleasant-Joseph ..... love you all
so much....
---------------------
Canada's Black-Negro Soldiers
Introduction
Image: Black soldiers have had a long
history of defending Canada. The Volunteer Military Company from Victoria, BC,
active between 1860 and 1864, served during the American Civil War (photograph
by Charles Gentile, courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-022626).What are the
forgotten stories of African-Canadian history? There are several, and their
absence has led to many misconceptions about the role of Black people in the
development of Canada.
One fact is that the first African
arrival took place over 400 years ago with interpreter Mathieu da Costa. Since
that time, Black people have been constantly coming into Canada helping to
build it. Another is the idea that Black people have not "paid their
dues," have not served in any military defense of Canada, that Black
people are not pulling their weight or taking the level of responsibility that
they should as good citizens of Canada.
However, the reality is that
African-Canadians have volunteered in every case for active duty, and persisted
even when they were not wanted. In order to help defend Canada, separate Black
units were created, the first one, on the initiative of African-Canadian
Richard Pierpoint. Black people have consistently defended the interests of
Canada, or the British controlled territory of Canada from the time of the
American Revolutionary War through to the Mackenzie Rebellions and the present.
Whether they were born in Canada, or
newcomers supporting the direction that Canada was taking, African-Canadians
have been ongoing defenders of this nation, allowing us all to experience the
freedoms that we have today.
Rosemary Sadlier
Image: Black soldiers have had a long
history of defending Canada. The Volunteer Military Company from Victoria, BC,
active between 1860 and 1864, served during the American Civil War (photograph
by Charles Gentile, courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-022626).
---------------
Black Ice - CHL Colored Hockey League,
Nova Scotia -1800s early 1900s
Espn segment on book "Black
Ice", Historical book about Halafax, Nova Scotia's (CHL) Colored Hockey
League circa1895-1925. Informative and interesting.
Black Ice – Negro Hockey (CHL)
The Lost History of the Colored Hockey
League of the Martimes, 1895-1925
Black Ice
Comprised of the sons and grandsons of
runaway American slaves, the league helped pioneer the sport of ice hockey
changing this winter game from the primitive “gentleman’s past-time” of the
nineteenth century to the modern fast moving game of today. In an era when many
believed blacks could not endure cold, possessed ankles too weak to effectively
skate, and lacked the intelligence for organized sport, these men defied the
defined myths.
2/23/2007: ESPN TO AIR COLORED HOCKEY
LEAGUE SPECIAL
Black Ice
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. 02/23/07.
Bristol, Connecticut.ESPN SPORTSCENTER
will be running a 7-minute documentary feature on the book Black Ice and the
history of the Colored Hockey League this Sunday beginning around 12 Noon. Last
month, Sonahhr historians and Executive Board Members Darril Fosty, George
Fosty, Drakeford Levi, Wayne Adams and Craig Smith were interviewed for the
feature. Darril Fosty also served as the historical consultant for ESPN during
the Nova Scotia stage of the production.
Setting the Ice Hockey Historical
Record Straight
Our knowledge of the roots of Canadian
hockey has been based almost solely on the historical records maintained by
early White historians. Because of this, the misconception that hockey is a
White man’s invention has persisted. We know today, such an assumption could
not be further from historical fact. The roots of early Canadian hockey
originate with the North American Indians. The roots of modern Canadian hockey
originate, in large part, from the influence of an even more surprising source,
that of early African-Canadian hockey. For it was Black hockey players in the
later half of the nineteenth century whose style of play and innovations helped
shape the sport, effectively changing the game of hockey forever. Page 12.
The First Black Ice Hockey Players –
1820 to 1870
With certainty, we can only date Black
hockey to the early 1870's, yet we know that hockey and Black history in
Nova Scotia have parallel roots, going
back almost 100 years. Among the first reports of hockey being played occur in
1815 along the isolated Northwest Arm, south of Halifax. The date is important
for the simple fact that as late as October 1815 the region was not home to a
large White settlement but was instead the site of a small Black enclave. Four
Black families originally from the Chesapeake Bay area, with a total of fifteen
children, had relocated and settled on the Arm. It is reported that these
families, Couney, Williams, Munro and Leale, received adequate food, lodging
and employment implying that their children were healthy and would have been
able to play hockey during the winter months when the Arm was frozen and
suitable for skating. Were these children among the first Canadians to play the
game of hockey? We do not know. All we can say is that the coincidence between
the date of the Northwest Arm’s Black settlement and the first records of
hockey being played in the area are worthy of reflection. Page 12-13.
The Stanley Cup -1893
During the nineteenth century, it had
been the English who had introduced the concept of competitive sports to much
of the world. In an age of the Victorians and Victorian ideals, sports were
regarded as models of teamwork and fair play. Many believed that sports could
raise the lower classes and non-White races to a higher level of civilization
and social development. All was well, the theory held as long as White men
continued to win at whatever sport they played. Hockey was no different. By
recognizing Canadian hockey Stanley had accomplished something more. He has
given the game “royal acceptance” removing its status as a game of the lowly
masses and creating a tiered sport based on club elitism and commercialism. It
is no secret that the Stanley Cup was only to be competed for by select teams
within
Canada. At the time of its
presentation, it was a symbol for self-promotion all the while serving a
“supposed need”. In time, those who controlled the Challenge Cup controlled
hockey, effectively creating a “bourgeoisie” sport. A sport that now, by its
very nature, would exclude and fail to recognize Black contributions. Page 14.
The Birth Of All-Black Hockey Teams
-1895
The first recorded mention of
all-Black hockey teams appears in 1895. Games between Black club teams were
arranged by formal invitation. By 1900, The Colored Hockey League of the
Maritimes had been created, headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Despite
hardships and prejudice, the league would exist until the mid-1920s.
Historically speaking, The Colored Hockey League was like no other hockey or
sports league before or since. Primarily located in a province, reputed to be
the birthplace of Canadian hockey, the league would in time produce a quality
of player and athlete that would rival the best of White Canada. Such was the
skill of the teams that they would be seen by as worthy candidates for local
representation in the annual national quest for Canadian hockey’s ultimate
prize – the Stanley Cup. Page 15.
Black Hockey Leadership -1895
They were more than educated Blacks,
in fact they were the first generation of Black men who refused to answer the
ageless question: “Whose Negro Are You?” The first of their race to demand what
was rightfully theirs; the first generation to refuse to stand at the back of a
line. Page 55.
On The Destruction Of The Colored
Hockey League — 1912
Were the Blacks sending a message to
area Whites? Was this “an eye for an eye,” a payback for Williams’ death and
other past events? In order for four White-owned buildings to go up in flames
almost simultaneously, it would require an orchestrated group effort. It would
require a group of people working in tandem with one goal. If it were the work
of Blacks it would have been an effort organized either on Gottingen Street or
out in Africville. If indeed this was payback, then who better to accomplish
this task than members of the Colored League — men who had had their league
destroyed, lands stolen, and business enterprises crushed at the hands of
Whites. On January 12, 1912 someone had sent the White Elite of Halifax a
message. The message was simple: “Burn Us — We Burn You!” Page 132.
NottHead Comments:
NottHeads
“Those that do not know their history
are destine to repeat it.” Those that rely on others to tell their story will
most likely be forgotten! Negro slaves adapted to every environment and
community, engaged in activities closely associated with the church and
desperately sought to be treated as equals; for their descendants the struggle
continues.
----------------------------------
Canadian Army News
Today in Canadian Military History:
Adjutant-General of Militia writes to Thomas Runchey of Niagara to raise a
detachment of Blacks. By December 15th, about 50 men are under his command
(1837). http://ow.ly/7U4NK
Black soldiers in the Rebellion of
1837
They fought valiantly on many of the
War of 1812 battlefields, including Queenston Heights, Fort George, Niagara,
Stoney Creek and Lundy's Lane, and in naval engagements on Lake Ontario. This
history is presented at Fort George National Historic Site of Canada, in
Niagara-on-the-Lake.
At the end of the hostilities,
veterans were promised severance pay and land grants. Although not all black
veterans obtained grants, a few did settle on land made available in Oro
Township near present-day Barrie. Here, the government hoped they would serve
as a defensive bulwark against potential American invasion via Georgian Bay.
The Oro AME Church in Edgar is recognized as nationally significant because of
its association with this early period of black settlement. The role of black
military forces in the War of 1812 continued to inspire African Americans with
the hope that a free life was possible if they could reach British territory.
Following the war there was a steady movement of refugees into Upper Canada.
By the outbreak of the Rebellion of
1837, the black population in Upper Canada had grown considerably. To reformer
and rebel William Lyon Mackenzie's frustration, African Canadians remained
steadfastly loyal to the Crown. In December 1837, a request
was made to raise another regiment of black militia. Additional black
units were raised under James H. Sears and Hugh Eccles in the Niagara area.
Near Chatham, a First and a Second Coloured Company were mustered. Like many
other communities close to the border, African Canadian communities did not
always wait for formal military mustering and often formed volunteer units and
drilled themselves. In Windsor, Underground Railroad community leader Josiah
Henson commanded such a company of volunteers, which was associated with the
Essex Militia.
The service records of the black
militia units were impressive. Sears' company supported the attack on the
American ship Caroline, which had been supplying Mackenzie's forces on Navy
Island. Near Sandwich, the Essex Militia, including Josiah Henson's unit of
volunteers, took possession of the rebel schooner Anne, which had been firing on
the town from the Detroit River. Along with Capt. Caldwell's Coloured Corps
(123 volunteers), Henson's men also helped defend Fort Malden from December
1837 through May 1838. Hastily re-mustered troops, including 50 black
volunteers, defended Windsor from a late attack in 1838. The role of the black
militia at Amherstburg is integral to the reasons for the designation of Fort
Malden National Historic Site of Canada.
The System of National Historic Sites
of Canada
Commemorating the Undergr ound
Railroad in Canada
-------------
MILITARY HISTORY OF NOVA SCOTIA
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