BC Black History Timeline
An enraptured audience met and chatted with Barbadian-Canadian writer and author Jasmine Sealy. “The Island of Forgetting”, published in 2022 has received best book awards and won the 2023 Amazon Canada First Novel Award, and more. Caleb Hart released an album “Emancipation” in October 2024. He has been a much-loved performer at our events with his blend of gospel, soul, pop, rock, calypso, soca and reggae.
Hosted by BCBHAS Member, Madison Bridal
This BCBHAS Event was supported by the Government of Canada, Province of BC, and Pacific Opera Victoria (POV).
Watch the videos of this event, provided by REP-HERE in Canada, videographer Tracy Guinchard.
“VICTORIA’S BIPOC MUSIC & ART FESTIVAL”
Canadian and International Performers were on the main stage, plus the BIPOC vendor village, local food trucks, and live art installation. For all ages
In May 2023, after the close of the “Hope Meets Action: Echoes Through the Black Continuum” exhibit, BCBHAS and Royal BC Museum entered into a Memorandum of Understanding that established a framework for continuing community collaboration.
On July 29, 2023, the replica Train Station in the Old Town exhibit re-opened with interpretive panels telling the story of the sleeping car porters. One excerpt reads, “The porters took up the fight to overcome the deep racism and explicit exclusion in the union movement and achieve equal union representation. Building on the work started earlier by Black trade unionists in Canada, they won recognition by founding the Order of Sleeping Car Porters, the first Black labour union in North America.”
The panels were created in partnership with BC Black History Awareness Society and Joshua Robertson, Hogan’s Alley Society and curator for the “Hope Meets Action” exhibit
BCBHAS celebrates Canada Multiculturalism Day to honour our cultural communities.
Canada Multiculturalism Day was officially June 27th but we celebrated early!
“MORE THAN A GAME” – a FREE-ENTRY, FAMILY-FRIENDLY event featuring basketball skills contests and games; in In partnership with The Grind Elite Youth Basketball Program
A record year for the Society – events and attendance. We hosted 6 public events and hosted a booth at the Vancouver Canucks Game on the 13th.
On the 15th we hosted the inaugural Black Entrepreneurs Dinner with 50 guests. The dinner took place at the University Club of Victoria with keynote speaker MERISSA ALLEN, President and CEO, Black Business Association of BC.
Our partners in bringing this BHM 2023 program to you were: Arts on View Society, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives- BC Office (CCPA-BC), Belfry Theatre, Global TV (media sponsor) HERE Magazine (Social Media) Old Cemeteries Society, Royal BC Museum and Archives, and Royal Bank of Canada.
THE FUNCTION FESTIVAL took place at Ship Point, Victoria. All ages were welcomed. THE FUNCTION is one of the NEWEST festivals in downtown Victoria and made its debut in a big way! Featuring one main stage, BIPOC artists, vendor village, food trucks, live art, kids’ zone & a barbershop! Yeah, that’s right – you could even get a haircut there.
The event sponsors were BC Black History Awareness Society in partnership with City of Victoria, CreativeBC, City of Vancouver, CFAX1070, PHILLIPS Brewing and Malting, Virgin Radio 107.3, and Media Sponsor CTV
A Canada Multiculturalism Day Celebration
We partnered with some of Victoria’s most dynamic cultural groups for this FREE event with FREE Entertainment and FREE food for Family fun! The event took place at the Cameron Bandshell in Beacon Hill Park, Victoria and featured cultural cuisine and performances representing Africa, the Caribbean, China, Cuba, India, The Philippines, and South America.
On June 11, 2022 the unveiling ceremony took place for this montage installed in the Mifflin Wistar Gibbs Study Room at the sxʷeŋxʷəŋ təŋəxʷ James Bay Branch, Greater Victoria Public Library.
In December 2020 we opened an online exhibit hosted by Digital Museums Canada (DMC). They now host over 500 exhibits, which includes a collection of Canadian Community Stories.
This Community Story about the Black pioneers who came to BC begins in 1858. It is a collection of 20 short stories with videos and archival images and documents to share their stories. In May 2018, we couldn’t have predicted that the opening of The Mifflin Wistar Gibbs Study Room at the James Bay Library would play such an important role in our project with DMC.
TODAY, we express our gratitude for our sponsors and in particular the creative talents of graphic designer Susie Jones, who has beautifully captured the spirit of the stories, the words, the images – and this montage is now an integral part of OUR community story! About this project
“Black History Here, Now, Then, Always: A Conversation across Exhibitions” was a webinar hosted by Royal BC Museum and Archives bringing together the exhibition curators in a moderated conversation exploring intersections across these two powerful and important exhibitions that daylight Black History and Black Belonging in BC and beyond. The curators also talked about their experiences as curators of Black History generally, working in/with organizations that are generally white-centered and the challenges in working with archival records.
Panelists: Joshua Robertson, Hope Meets Action; Nya Lewis, Sankofa; Nuno Porto, Sankofa; Titilope Salami, Sankofa; Moderator: Rachael Otukol, BC Black History Awareness Society
“Hope Meets Action: Echoes Through the Black Continuum” was open at the Royal BC Museum from August 14, 2021 to April 14, 2022 “…despite consistent efforts, our on-going story in these lands has yet to be heard when told by us. As stolen people on stolen land, our history is neither simple nor stagnant. In the face of racial discrimination… this exhibit daylights the living and on-going history of Black belonging in what is referred to as ‘British Colombia’.”
Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Roots” was open at the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia from November 4, 2021 – March 27, 2022. “… draws connections to historical contributions and the growing vitality of Black Canadians in Vancouver; the exhibit celebrates different ways of understanding the world through the lenses of African and Black communities, the wealth of their cultural and art practices, and their inspiring legacy.