AFRICAN DESCENT HERITAGE MONTH
Africans have had a presence in Canada from around the same time Canada was “discovered.” Mathieu da Costa was the first free person of African heritage recorded to have visited Canada – around the same time as Samuel de Champlain – and he arguably held as much importance as the men he accompanied. Yet, it wasn’t until 2017 that Canada Post recognized his extraordinary diplomatic efforts as a Mi”kmaq and multi-language interpreter for the explorers and First Nations they sought to communicate with.
Moreover, teaching African Descent History, especially within a Canadian context can prove challenging. Many don’t even know much African-Canadian History. Thus, it’s much easier to teach it from the more popular US’ perspective, which leads many to think that things such as slavery never existed in Canada. It’s much easier to say that Harriet Tubman led slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad to Canada, than to broach the subject that Canada may once have had an equally ugly past.
We must admit and cannot erase the fact that slavery did indeed exist in Canada.
Europeans had been trading and enslaving Africans since the 1500s. Over 12 million Africans are said to have been taken from Africa and sold into slavery by European and American traders. The first recorded African slave in Canada was brought to New France (now Quebec) in 1629 on a British ship from either Madagascar or Guinea when he was just six years old. He was sold two more times, ending up with Guillaume Couillard. He was baptized Olivier le Jeune. During his time on earth, he was chained for 24 hours as a juvenile for defamation, becoming the first recorded Black juvenile prisoner. He was also the first recorded Black student, having been taught religion. Le Jeune passed away in 1654. He was in his early thirties, having his occupation recorded as that of a servant. Slavery in Canada would continue…
New Englanders were invited to Nova Scotia to replace the exiled Acadians. These settlers brought their slaves with them so that in 1776, there were 500 African slaves. After the Revolutionary War, the United Empire Loyalists came to Canada from the USA, who also brought their slaves with them. An interesting layer to this is that there were also Free Black Loyalists who fought in the war. The British transported more than 3,000 Black Loyalists to Nova Scotia. These people established homes in Birchtown and Shelburne in that province. In 1794, 1,192 Black Loyalists chose to emigrate to Sierra Leone, Africa. They became known as the Nova Scotian settlers in the new British colony of Sierra Leone.
The slave trade continued in Canada until slavery was abolished in British colonies in 1834, only a few decades before the United States.
The many contributions of people of African descent were either ignored, unknown or lost in the annals of history. Thanks to Harvard-educated, African-American, Carter G. Woodson, the commemoration of what is now Black History Month came about. He proposed in 1926 that time be set aside and devoted to increasing educational awareness of African Descent achievements and so “Negro History Week” was born. Shortly after its declaration in the United States, Canada also began celebrating the week. As the term “negro” became a derogative one, the week was changed to “Black History Week” in the early 1970s, expanding to “Black History Month” in 1976.
Canada officially recognized February as Black History Month in 1995 after the first African Descent woman elected to Parliament, the Honorable Jean Augustine made a motion that was carried unanimously. In February 2008, Senator Donald Oliver, the first Black man appointed to the Senate, introduced the Motion to Recognize Contributions of Black Canadians and February as Black History Month. It received unanimous approval and was adopted on March 4, 2008. The adoption of this motion completed Canada’s parliamentary position on Black History Month.
Sources:
Lawrence, Bonita. “Enslavement of Indigenous People in Canada.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 8 May 2020, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/slavery-of-indigenous-people-in-canada.
Williams, Dorothy. “Olivier Le Jeune.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 20 Aug. 2020, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/olivier-le-jeune.
Celebrating Our History
African Descent Society BC has a full schedule of events planned for African Descent Heritage Month. Past events have included school presentations, walking tours, live performances and heritage discussions.
Although we recognize that African Descent history (or any minority group’s history for that matter) should not be relegated to merely one designated month out of the year, we nevertheless strive to use the month of February to educate the public on African heritage, especially its relation to where we live – British Columbia.
African Descent Heritage Month 2024 is here!
Please note that this program is subject to change. Check back for up-to-date events!
You can register for Walking tours and online events below.
Activities
ADSBC has carried out the following activities for African Descent Heritage Month:
Promotes cultural relations among people and inspires them to look into history with a different lens, shaping the narration and combatting stereotypes, racial discrimination and past injustices. Story-telling brings to life beliefs, traditions, norms and cultural perspectives of old communities to life. Telling our history revitalizes new ideas, knowledge and values in our local community because stories connect us to the past and describe people and their historic places, connect gathering and culture with the future.
Stories:
- Create community create through relationships, encouraging community action and engagement.
- Preserve language – they celebrate cultures, creating common understanding
- Share knowledge – they describe natural history, culture, buildings, land space and creating space for oral histories.
- Connect people – they highlight the stories of indigenous peoples and inspire the youth in the future of our heritage.
- Are intangible but they transmit heritage and culture. They share memories and reveal new intercultural understandings.
- Draw us together and shape our communities.
- Build citizenship participation and empower civic engagement through exploration of various issues in the past, present and future.
- Building layer by layer, explores archives, photographs, streets and buildings.
ADSBC plans to invite and engage Vancouver Police department in conversation about policing and Black community safety including racial profiling for Black people.
Through telling our stories, we will present African live music performances in sessions during and ending the event as part of African Descent stories through music which will be comprised of rich African descent histories. We plan to bring multiple fashion shows in Vancouver Black communities to participate and show various African descent heritage.
Forging Relationships, Stimulating Engagement for Heritage Commissions/Committees
We plan to work with community groups, associations, municipal staff, politicians, and community partners, Heritage Commissions and Advisory Committees to create opportunities to tell stories. These groups perform the on-the-ground local work of sharing the community story. The African Descent Heritage Month is a vehicle for sharing and discussing the work of growing healthy communities through storytelling.
Building the Capacity of Black Community Organizations: A Stage-based approach to business planning for your non-profit.
This workshop will focus on building capacity opportunity for Black Canadian led organizations to step back from day-to-day operations and gain clarity on where to best build capacity for their organization’s “bench strength.” Understanding your organization’s lifecycle stage can allow you to pinpoint your exact growing pains and next steps in capacity development. In this workshop, participants will learn how to undergo an in-depth organizational assessment based on 5 core capacity builders in non-profit organizations: Programs, Governance, Management, Financial Resources, Administrative systems and infrastructure intending to increase capacity building for organisations of Black community with new skill development.
Tour Leader: Yasin Kiraga Misago
Spend an hour touring streets, and spaces, Heritage Revitalization Agreement projects in downtown East Vancouver which led to the destruction of cultural heritage business and spiritual homes for the people of African Descent – including endangered house relocation, infill, and rehabilitation; the conversion of 1880s to 1972 cottages including urban renewals in 1957 which led to the landscaping injustices for the people of African descent in Vancouver and Black Strathcona with other communities such as Hogan’s Alley. Yasin is an experienced African descent heritage consultant, join him on a walking tour through the downtown neighbourhoods to learn about a diversity of building forms, ages, and styles that was once owned or operated Black businesses and how these stories can shape the restoration or preservation of tangible and intangible history.
Cultural Landscapes: Understanding African Descent Heritage/Cultural ties to land relations in Vancouver.
In Canada, the slavery history and post-slavery immigration continues to erase/ignore Black people’s continuity on their lands since time immemorial. Heritage narratives within cultural landscape recognition and preservation so often emphasize physical ‘evidence’ such as buildings, built forms, burial grounds and battle sites. How can we move past ‘evidence-based’ heritage to a much deeper, often intangible way of expressing history in the land, relationships with the land? How can we start to understand all of these lands as Indigenous cultural landscapes? And what are the implications of that? This workshop explores narratives of cultural landscapes as stories, laws, ancestors, songs, memories, events, food sources, commerce and more. We also look at ways that partnerships can help with the recognition and protection of Indigenous cultural landscapes in working towards inclusive decision-making and storytelling.
Sharing Stories of the “Other” with Elders
ADSBC plans to bring multiple stories from different communities together to challenge traditional historical narratives in a way that invites all viewers to learn about our heritage and traditions in Vancouver. The co-creators 50 years and Counting: Fighting for Justice in Vancouver their challenges and the questions they encountered in putting this exhibit together. Through a workshop case study activity, we consider key points and questions, providing tools and tips for sharing stories of the “Other.”
Communities are shaped by their unique cultural landscapes. Small-scale, place-based businesses and organizations are essential to this culture, and to the evolution and adaptation of these communities. In this event, the small program explores how unique place-based cultural assets in our communities can build social, cultural and economic strength. Through exploring cases of revitalization and destructions of Blackstrathcona, we answer the questions: How do we tell the stories of our communities? What is the role of local cultural economies in these stories? How do we support these cultural economies?
As a non-profit community developer, the small program celebrates and activates existing heritage assets to attract and sustain vibrant cultural entrepreneurial hubs. We believe that cultural assets, tangible and intangible, define communities: historical buildings and landscapes, skills related to black community arts, culture, heritage and tradition.
Memory of place can be a powerful tool to influence the decision-makers, but the heritage sector is only beginning to explore how community memories impact values of place and how art impact our communities. Our panel explores the ways emotions, compassion, ethics, and imagination, through our stories of history and heritage, can contribute to planning and influence policy of municipalities to start planning the future of Black people in Vancouver.
Singing Our Histories Speaking Our Truths
There will be African Descent Artist performers share their own stories through music, stories, and performance represent the stories of African Descent community since 1880s to current situation and challenges faced by the people of African descent to explore ways of speaking their truths, through the oral tradition, which has been the main source of historical record keeping on these lands since time out of mind. There will be African Descent Fashion shows with historical stories narratives depicting the history and traditions of people of African descent in Vancouver. African Fountain Chapel, a spiritual sacred home for the people of African Descent with African fountain chapel choir. The church played a fundamental role spiritually for, cultural gathering and social justice in Vancouver since the early days of 19th century before its demolished by the construction of Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaduct through Urban Renewal.
125 Vancouver sites have been identified to celebrate people, places and events that have shaped that city. To date, 10 descriptive plaques have been installed and the project now boasts a rich online component to share diverse and lesser-known stories. Also impressive are the plaques bearing in English telling stories and memories for the people of African descent in Black strathcona as signs of history and heritage preservation in Vancouver, adding deeper layers of meaning and recognition. This session explores the successes and lessons learned in identifying and celebrating not only well-known and visible heritage sites, but also the hidden histories of a community.
Celebrate community and enliven our heritage project with storytelling and living history in a freewheeling and fun presentation. Storyteller and museum educators, will share his experiences and approaches to celebrating community stories, and will provide tips and tools for you to collect, cultivate and share stories.
BC | Canada 150 has been one of the most impactful grants programs for BC’s heritage and museums sectors – not only for the infusion of funds, but more so for the impacts and legacies it has enabled. The program has helped many communities build momentum to describe their histories and heritage in new and innovative ways. The BC Museums Association, together with the support of Heritage BC, was honoured to be a part of administering this grant program on behalf of the Province of British Columbia. A panel of grant recipients will describe the innovative and collaborative ways we can share our collective provincial heritage and the positive outcomes of such projects.
As the tangible and intangible interactions of humans and nature, cultural landscapes call up complex ideas of ‘ownership’ and stewardship over a land-base that can be contested and re-envisioned over time. Through three case studies, our panelists explore ideas of land conservation, recreation access and commemoration, while preserving and presenting heritage values.
