Around 1910 Black people began moving to Vancouver’s East Side neighbourhood of Strathcona, a mixed community of mainly Italian, Chinese and Black people. The Black people mostly settled in what became known as “Hogan’s Alley”. At its height in the 1930s and 1940s,...
Moses Rowe Smith and family arrived in Victoria in 1858 from London, Ontario. His business interests included a bakery, biscuit factory, warehouse, confectionary shop, 14 delivery wagons and horses. In a special Victoria Colonist 50th anniversary edition is an article...
Mifflin Wistar Gibbs was a prominent citizen of Victoria, serving as a councillor and co-owned the retail firm of Lester & Gibbs, a general store that was known for outfitting prospectors. He left Victoria in 1869 and became a municipal judge in Little Rock,...
Grafton Tyler Brown is considered the first professional Black artist in the Pacific west. The one-week art exhibition, the first art exhibit in Victoria by any artist, included 22 paintings: views of Victoria, surrounding area and the mainland. This photograph was...
Fielding and Julia Spotts were part of the first Black community that settled in Saanich, just north of Victoria. They had eight children. Fielding was a trustee at the schools their eight children attended; Lake District School circa 1870 and then at the South...
