William Goldiet, President of African Heritage of Vancouver Island (AHAVI) William will share his story from growing up to becoming a refugee and beyond. William is originally from South Sudan. He left Sudan in 1994 to Lebanon where he lived as refugee for more than 15 years. He is now […]
Category: Event Archive
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John Adams is an historian, author, founder and owner-operator of Discover the Past, a company in Victoria, BC that specializes in research, writing, presentations and walking tours. For 17 years, until his retirement in 2004, John was the regional manager for southwestern BC and Vancouver Island for the Heritage Branch, […]
Bart Armstrong, Military Research Specialist. He served in 3 regiments of the Canadian Armed Forces Reserves; after 17 years service, he retired as a Master Warrant Officer. He has also worked in police and security fields for over a decade and also for 25 years worked in various freelance capacities […]
Janie Cooper-Wilson, artist, author speaker; has been featured in made-for-television documentaries such as Bloodlines, Famous Last Words, and Raise the Spirit; written two full-length historical publications; is a regular contributor to the Northern Terminus African-Canadian Journal. About Janie: born in Ontario; traces her Canadian ancestry back seven generations to the […]
On Sunday, June 17th, 2012, at the age of 89, Jerry Bryant performed for our BCBHAS members, families and guests at an afternoon concert to celebrate Father’s Day. Jerry first came to Canada in 1960, moving with his family from Denver, Colorado to Alberta. They then moved to Victoria in […]
Crawford Kilian shares his experiences in writing the 1st edition, published in 1978 and what compelled him to publish the 2nd edition in 2008. Update: the 3rd edition was published in 2020 by Harbour Publishing. This book, and all its editions “describes the hardships and triumphs of BC’s first Black […]
In partnership with Metro Theatre. “Just an Ordinary Lawyer”, performance and songs by Tayo Aluko, Nigerian-born actor, singer and playwright, based in Liverpool, UK. This was a one-man show about Tunji Sowande, who left Nigeria to study law in Britain and who in 1968 became the first Black head of […]
Through songs and narrative, Lonnie Glass related the story of Lincoln’s journey from his pre-Presidential career through the Civil War to his untimely death at the hand of an assassin. Lonnie recorded “Chapter of Night“, an American Civil War Prospective in 2010, based on his research and tours in the […]
Performance by Nigerian-born Tayo Aluko, actor, singer and playwright, based in Liverpool, UK. Tayo Aluko IS Robeson. Paul Robeson was an international star, who sang renditions of the most iconic songs from the thirties to the sixties, and was a political activist who was persecuted as a communist sympathizer in […]
Performed by Lonnie Glass Lonnie’s two passions of music and history were ignited when he toured the southern United States in the 1980’s. He has an insatiable appetite for history – it was only a matter of time before he combined his passion for music with his historical knowledge. He’s […]
Author: Crawford Kilian Producer: Anthony Brown February 4, 2013, Film showing at Greater Victoria Public Library – Main Branch, Broughton Street
This concert at the Metro Theatre featured singer Gergana Velinova, accompanied by Pablo Cardenas performing “A Tribute to Mahalia Jackson”, followed by playwriter/actor Justin Carter performing his one-man show “Son of Africville”, an autobiographical story of his reunion with his mother in Africville, Nova Scotia. February 10, 2012
Louise Rose, the Victoria High School R&B Band, blues artist Eric Dozier and Moon Dance, an African dance group. Three choirs also performed; One Human Family Gospel Choir, Victoria Good News Choir and the Victoria Children’s Choir. Hosted and sponsored by BC Black History Awareness Society at the University of […]
The Society promoted this event put on by the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Leila Sujir wrote and directed this film. It is a moving portrait incorporating interviews, family footage and archival materials to recount history through the eyes of Jackson’s two grandmothers, Rosemary Brown, (1930-2003) and Ruth Horricks-Sujir, (1925-2015). […]
Grafton Tyler Brown is BC’s first professional landscape artist and the first artist to hold an exhibition in Victoria. His exhibition was for 1 week beginning on June 25th,1883. On February 15th,2015 an audience of Society members, families, friends and invited guests gathered to hear UVIC History Dept. Chair, Dr. […]
This two-day Graffiti Workshop, on August 16 and 17, 2021 brought together BIPOC professional artists and youth from around Lekwungen Territory. The event was free; the goal for youth to learn basic graffiti techniques and the history of graffiti in Hip-Hop. Their work was then featured in the Esquimalt Community […]
The Society promoted this event put on by the UVIC Office of Community-University Engagement. “A Queer Trial“, written by University of Victoria professor Dr. Jennifer Wise, celebrates the sensational trial of an unsung hero of Victoria’s gay history—on the very site where the trial took place, Bastion Square. The play […]
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 […]
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 […]
The sensational Cuban pianist Pablo Cárdenas brings his top trio and reproduces many of Oscar’s most famous and beloved performances. On the line up Rob Johnson on bass, Cyril Lojda on drums. In a career spanning more than 60 years, Canadian jazz pianist and composer Oscar Peterson released over 200 […]
Learn the rich history of the 5 Elements of Hip Hop; Knowledge, Djing/Lyricism, Breakdancing/African dance, and Graffiti with special guest speaker, Ernie Paniccioli, legendary Hip Hop photographer and member of the Hip Hop Hall of Fame. Ernie has nearly 20,000 photographs at Cornell University Library’s Hip Hop archives. Ernie is […]
In 1858, an estimated 800 men, women and children of African descent came to British Columbia. Questions include why they came, what was their impact, why many left, where they traveled and many others. This symposium presents continuing research that reveals informative insights on this period of Black history. Speakers: […]
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 […]
BC Black History Awareness Society in partnership with the Royal BC Museum opened, opened Hope Meets Action: Echoes Through the Black Continuum on August 14, 2021. The exhibit presented the story of Afro-diasporic ‘British Columbia’ history, past, present and future. Written, told and designed by Black voices, this exhibition reclaims […]
BC Black History Awareness Society organized a Leon Bibb Concert at Government House, hosted by the Honourable Judith Guichon, OBC, and Lieutenant Governor of BC. The event was also a celebration of Bibb’s 92nd Birthday. Bibb was accompanied by his friend and pianist of 30 years, Bill Sample. Sample said […]
Designation Date: April 20,2009 “Our government is proud to honor a man who worked tirelessly for the local Black Community as a politician, businessman, and defender of human rights”. On February 19, 2017, the plaque was presented to the BC Black History Awareness Society and the City of Victoria. On […]