Recognizing and celebrating the contribution and achievements of Blacks in BC past and present ... and it's our 25th Anniversary! All the event details are here.
Earliest Pioneers (1858-1899)
17 posts
… free men and women seeking a place where they could raise their families, educate their children, practice their professions, enjoy the results of their hard work, vote, and live without fear and live with equality under the law. The arrival of the Black Pioneers to B.C. in 1858 was […]
Artist, Dentist, Judge, Juror, Policemen, Politician, Teacher, Television Host. In acknowledging these “Firsts”, we can reflect on the advice Gibbs received, before deciding to migrate to Vancouver Island, from Julia Griffith, the English comrade of abolitionist Frederick Douglass: “What! Discouraged? Go do some great thing.” Here are more “firsts” for […]
Farmer, cooper, husband, father, avid church member, school trustee ... Applicants for British Citizenship in an 1858-1859 report in the Victoria Gazette listed Fielding Spotts as a cooper. He probably arrived in 1858 and worked at this trade in Victoria until about 1864. Eighteen fifty-nine was a busy year for […]
A tinsmith by trade, Deas became the leading canner on the Fraser River in the 1870's. Deas Island, where the cannery was located, bears his name. To mark Canada's 150th birthday, 150 noteworthy British Columbian's were named: February 24, 2017: John Sullivan Deas - built first commercial salmon cannery. Salmon […]
Emma Stark was the 1st female Black teacher on Vancouver Island, 1874, at the Cranberry-Cedar School near Nanaimo. Emma was born in 1857. Her given name was Emily Arabel/Arabella. She is the daughter of Sylvia and Louis Stark. She had 1 brother Willis, born on December 13, 1858. She would have been […]
Giscome Portage Trail bears his name, and is a designated heritage site. Giscome Portage Trail was designated an official Heritage Site in 1997. BC Parks took over management of the trail when it was designated a Protected Area in the year 2000. The image is titled "Crossing the Portage" by Richard […]
William Allen Jones was the 1st dentist in B.C. (1886) to be granted a license under the British Columbia Dental Act. William Allen Jones, was the oldest of three brothers who came to Salt Spring Island in 1859, pre-empting land on the west side of Ganges Harbour. All three brothers […]
Patriarch and Matriarch of Alexanders of Victoria, arrived in Victoria aboard the ship Oregon in July 1858. Charles was born August 16, 1824 in St. Louis, Missouri. He was a free black. Nancy was born May 25, 1834 in St. Louis, Missouri. She was also a free black. They were […]
Cartographer, lithographer, and landscape painter. The 1st professional Black artist, working and living in the Pacific North West as well as British Columbia and California. The Royal B.C. Museum holds the greatest number of and most significant of Brown's Canadian works. In March 2018 the Museum purchased another of his […]
The Government of Canada is proud to honor a man who worked tirelessly for the local Black Community as a politician, businessman, and defender of human rights - August 2009. His story... Mifflin Wistar Gibbs was a man of many parts, born free but poor in Philadelphia, April 17, 1823. […]
In 1858, James Douglas sent word to the Black Community in San Francisco inviting them to the colony of Vancouver Island. Douglas desperately needed settlers on the island to help quell the tide of gold-seeking Americans and their potential attempts to annex Vancouver Island to the U.S. Several hundred Blacks […]
1st teacher on Salt Spring Island circa 1859 to 1875; one of only 16 public school teachers in the Province at that time. John Craven Jones was the 2nd oldest of three brothers who came to Salt Spring Island in 1859. John's older brother is William Allen who settled in […]
A partner in the firm Lester & Gibbs; in February 1860 he was the 1st black to sit as a juror. Peter Lester moved with his wife Nancy and five children to San Francisco from Philadelphia in 1850, where he was appalled to find that slavery was still a fact […]
Born into slavery, as a child she taught herself to read; travelled from Missouri with her parents, was a pioneer on Salt Spring Island, became a legend, living to the age of 106. Sylvia Estes was born in Clay County, Missouri to parents who were slaves. Her parents and their […]
By the spring of 1860 40 to 50 Black men were enrolled in the Victoria Pioneer Rifle Corps. The Corps was officially sworn in on July 4, 1861. The Royal Navy supplied drill sergeants and the volunteers utilized a building on View Street for drills. In 1859, when the volunteer […]
Charles and Nancy were married on December 25, 1849. They celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary, December 25th, 1899. A brief announcement about the anniversary was in the Colonist on December 15th, 1899. "Mr. and Mrs. Charles Alexander, of Lake Hill, formerly of Saanich, will celebrate their golden wedding anniversary on […]