BC Black History Timeline
Prof. Handel Kashope Wright, Director of the Centre for Culture, Identity and Education.
“Paradoxically, it is no secret that the presence of Black BC is something of a secret. In other words Blackness appears to be so underrepresented in contemporary BC (with black people making up only 1.3% of the population and no discernible black ethnoburbs) that many outside and even within the province may be forgiven for thinking there is no Black BC per se and by extension, perhaps there never was a Black BC.”
“In this talk I try to address the persistent “absent presence” of Blackness largely in terms of history but also in terms of geography. More specifically, I take up named (and for the most part, somewhat known) historical figures (Mifflin Gibbs, Sylvia Stark and, if we dare colour him Black, Sir James Douglas) and use them to try to explain the strategy (racist erasure) by which Blackness has come to be rendered almost fully absent from the conception of BC and to assert the contemporary presence of a rich diversity (e.g. in terms of gender, sexuality, diaspora) of Blackness that belies and resists that erasure.”
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Designed and developed by our Society, British Columbia Black Pioneers is a collection of short stories about women, men, families, and partnerships that show the intricacies of the events, experiences, and circumstances of everyday life of the Black pioneers, such as winning prizes at the earliest Saanich Fair in 1875, organizing by women in Victoria to raise money to support Black troops in the American Civil War, and confronting discrimination while still achieving many “firsts” in business, politics, and education.
BC Black History Awareness Society (BCBHAS) created this online exhibit to share their stories and describe the influence that they and their families had on the province’s historical development and diversity. The exhibit, which officially opened in December 2020, is hosted by Digital Museums Canada. Visit the online exhibit
Read about this project
Image depicts some of the intrepid pioneers who made Vancouver Island and Salt Spring Island their home beginning in 1858. Images courtesy of City of Victoria Archives, Royal BC Museum and Archives, and Salt Spring Island Archives. This collage was compiled by Beth Cruise, ©BC Black History Awareness Society.
A new grave marker for Captain Paris Carter [1820-1890] and his wife Mary [c.1826-1890] was unveiled at the Ross Bay Cemetery and a wreath was laid. Paris Carter, served as Captain of the Victoria Pioneer Rifle Corps for a time.
The restoration and unveiling ceremony was sponsored by the Last Post Fund (LPF). Their mission is to ensure that no Veteran is denied a dignified funeral and burial, as well as a military gravestone, due to insufficient funds at the time of death.
Image: Ron Nicholson, long-term member and Board Member of BCBHAS, places a wreath at the gravesite for Paris and Mary Carter. © BC Black History Awareness Society
At this event Adelene performed a number of her favorite poems and spent time after the performance with the audience. The event took place in the upstairs lounge at the Bent Mast in James Bay, Victoria
About Adelene … She was born in San Francisco and raised in Vancouver, her direct descendants are the first of BC’s black pioneers, who settled on Salt Spring Island and Victoria in the mid-1800s. Her grandmother owned the famous restaurant Vie’s Chicken and Steaks, in Hogan’s Alley that was the meeting place for the neighborhood and any number of Black performers coming to Vancouver in the early 1940s to the late 1970s. She started writing poetry at a young age, grew up in the Motown era; that music is a big influence on her style. She says that her mother told her poetry was healing … and we can all use some of that …. ”
Grafton Tyler Brown in his studio at the Occidental Hotel, corner of Wharf and Johnson street, Victoria B.C.,1883.
Grafton Tyler Brown is the first professional Black artist in the Pacific North west and in 1883 he was the first artist to hold an art exhibition in Victoria.
In March 2018 the Royal BC Museum and Friends of the BC Archives Society purchased one of Brown’s paintings “Giant’s Castle Mountain: A.L. Fortune’s Farm, Enderby BC” dated October 6, 1882.
This painting was displayed at the event along with other artifacts (photographs, documents) related to BC Black Pioneers. The BC Black History Awareness Society hosted the event in partnership with the Archives and the Friends of the BC Archives Society. Why June 25th? It was June 25th, 1883 when Brown opened the one week art exhibit. Find out more about Grafton Tyler Brown on this website.
Annie Djiotsa was born in Cameroon. She has been living in Canada for 25 years; and has worked as an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces for nearly 20 years. Annie shared her story – a story of darkness and light, a story of peace and war; mostly a story of strength, love and hope.
This community room was opened at the newly built Greater Victoria Public Library sxʷeŋxʷəŋ təŋəxʷ (James Bay) Branch. Dr. Verna Gibbs, great-great grandniece traveled from San Francisco to attend this event.