A descendant of the original 1858 BC Black pioneers, “Gentleman Umpire” Doug Hudlin was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Sports Hall of Fame on June 24, 2017. Read more about Doug Image courtesy of Barbara Hudlin. James Douglas “Doug” Hudlin in 1988
Category: Timeline Stories
132 posts
The International Decade for People of African Descent, 2015–2024, was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 2013. Themes are Recognition, Justice, and Development with the overall goal—to promote and protect human rights. A UN Working Group visited Canada in 2016 at the invitation of the Canadian government. They […]
The investment ceremony took place in Ottawa on November 21, 2014 on Eleanor Collins’ 95th Birthday. The official citation reads: “Eleanor Collins is a supremely talented vocalist who changed the face of race relations in mid-20th Century Vancouver. In 1948 she was ostracized upon moving into one of the city’s […]
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 […]
1926: The precursor to Black History Month was created in 1926 in the United States, when historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History announced the second week of February to be “Negro History Week“. This week was chosen because it coincided with […]
#BlackLivesMatter started in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the shooting death of 17-year old, unarmed Trayvon Martin. Martin was shot a year earlier on February 26, 2012. Three women Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, started the organization that spread across the globe, with large followings […]
In 2004 the African Heritage Association of Vancouver Island (AHAVI) formed as a non-profit organization to build a united and strong community by cooperatively organizing and supporting events and activities to meet the needs of Africans, people of African descent, and friends of Africa on Vancouver Island.
The Employment Equity Act defines visible minorities as “persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour.” The visible minority population consists mainly of South Asian, Chinese, Black, Filipino, Latin American, Arab, Southeast Asian, West Asian, Korean and Japanese. Sources explain “The qualifier ‘visible’ was […]
The preface by Jesse J. Dillard Jr., President, reads, “This catalogue is the result of a summer project of the Victoria Black People’s Society. The aims of the project were to research existing information in public records pertaining to Blacks in British Columbia, catalogue this information, and publish it in […]
The Historic Sites and Monuments Board plaque is located at the Central Saanich United Church formerly The Shady Creek Church. The plaque, which was designated on September 22, 1997 and unveiled on February 20, 2000 reads: BLACK PIONEERS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA In 1858, nearly 800 free Blacks left the oppressive […]
Justice Selwyn Romilly is recognized as an eminent jurist in the province. Milestones in his celebrated career include: 1966 – Graduated Peter A. Allard School of Law, UBC 1974 – Appointed to the provincial court of B.C. 1991 – Voted by BC lawyers as one of the four best Provincial […]
The success of the Black History Month 1994 event by the Special Event Advisory Committee working with the Royal BC Museum and Archives was the catalyst for community members to form the BC Black History Awareness Society. The Society was incorporated on March 18,1994. Since October 2018, the society has […]
Emery Barnes had been in politics since 1972. On August 30, 1972 he was elected as the first member in the double-member riding of Vancouver Centre, along with MLA Gary Lauk and later with MLA Mike Harcourt. In 1991 Barnes was elected to the revised riding of Vancouver-Burrard and appointed […]
Joe arrived in Vancouver around 1885-1886 when he was about 20 years old. He worked as a bartender but spent many hours at English Bay, taking it upon himself to be THE informal swimming teacher and lifeguard. In 1910 the City of Vancouver recognized Joe as an official lifeguard to […]
Affectionately called “Vie’s” the restaurant was an iconic part of the black community in Hogan’s Alley, and THE favorite place to be served great food for many people working night shifts. It was a meeting place for visiting entertainers and celebrities including Louis Armstrong, Count Bassie, Cab Calloway, Sammy Davis […]
On October 12, 1974 Valmond Romilly, a Smithers lawyer, was stopped on the street and arrested by three Vancouver city policemen. The police arrested Romilly because the suspect, like Romilly, was Black. They continued to harass him even after they realized that they had made a mistake. Romilly sued the […]
On August 30th, 1972 Emery Barnes was elected as the first member in the double-member riding of Vancouver Centre, along with MLA Gary Lauk. He and Lauk were re-elected in 1975, 1979 and 1983. In 1991, Barnes was elected to the revised single-member riding of Vancouver-Burrard; and at this time […]
Harry Winston Jerome was born on September 30, 1940 in Saskatchewan. His family moved to the Vancouver area in 1951. Rising above the intense racism and discrimination at their school and in their neighbourhood, Harry and his sister Valerie excelled in a variety of sports. Harry’s exceptional speed made him […]
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” An estimated 250,000 people took part in the one-mile March on Washington for Jobs and […]
In 1958 the Vancouver City Council approved a “redevelopment plan” that called for the demolition of nearly all of Strathcona, including Hogan’s Alley. By 1967, more than a dozen blocks, including the western section of Hogan’s Alley, had been leveled for the new viaduct. The centre of Strathcona’s Black neighbourhood […]
The BC Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (BCAACP) was founded on March 1,1958 to support people facing discrimination in education, housing and the justice system; to lobby for human rights legislation in the provincial parliament; and to bring about curriculum changes in BC schools. A 1971 survey reported […]
The very first Eleanor show aired on June 12, 1955. Eleanor Collins received numerous awards for her contribution to arts and entertainment, including the 1986 Centennial Distinguished Pioneer Award, induction into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame (1992), ACTRA’s Sam Payne Lifetime Achievement Award, and lifetime achievement awards from the […]
Dorothy Hewitt, of Jamaican ancestry, was married to a white teacher at Shawnigan Lake Boy’s School. She was told by Headmaster G. Peter Kaye to leave the school “before the boys come and see a coloured person here.” Her husband resigned, and they returned to Jamaica. Numerous articles were written […]
Barbara Howard wrote “I got my first job in Alberni from sending out resumes. It never occurred to me that people did not hire black teachers. About 10 years later, when I came back to Vancouver, I had no trouble getting work as a substitute teacher. So I waited every […]
On April 15, 1948, the Province newspaper reported that Mr. & Mrs. Dermont Cromwell received a letter demanding that they move from their home in southeast Vancouver, as they were not wanted in the neighbourhood. Auspiciously, Mr. Cromwell was the President of the Canadian Society for the Advancement of Colored […]
In April 1941, Vancouver Newspapers began reporting on the “Crystal Pool Controversy”; where the Vancouver Parks Board imposed a colour ban limiting the use of the pool for Blacks and Chinese to only Tuesday mornings. While some Park Board members did protest, the “colour line” lasted for more than 4 […]
Descendants of the Black pioneers who remained in BC enlisted to fight for Canada. Hiram Whims was born in Tennessee and immigrated to Salt Spring Island around 1859. Four grandsons served in World War I. Two great-grandsons served in World War II. We honour and remember the men and women […]
Barbara Howard was born and raised in Vancouver. She was the first Black woman athlete to represent Canada in an International event, competing at the 1938 British Empire Games held in Sydney, Australia from February 5 to 12. In 2012 she was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame […]
The location at the corner of Jackson and Prior Streets in Vancouver originally had a Lutheran Church that was constructed in 1904. The building was purchased in 1918 through the leadership of local resident Nora Hendrix and around 1921 opened as the African Methodist Episcopal Fountain Chapel. It was the […]
Railway porters were hired from cities with established Black communities, including Vancouver’s Hogan’s Alley. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights states “porters tended to be highly educated men, with university degrees in science, medicine or business administration – prevailing racist attitudes held that Black people were socially inferior to whites […]
The Battle of Vimy Ridge took place on April 9, 1917. Pte. R. Gilbert, one of the few Black men permitted to enlist, (the 103rd Battalion recruited in, and was mobilized at Victoria, British Columbia) captured a German Officer who then gave Pte. Gilbert his own Iron Cross, because of […]
Many of the pioneers came to the British Colonies beginning in 1858 as young men and women and young families. It was their grandchildren and great-grandchildren who enlisted to fight for Canada in World War I and World War II. Hiram Whims was born in Tennessee and immigrated to Salt […]
Henry Houston Scott, his wife Amy, and their three youngest children came from Oklahoma. The Scott’s settled in Surrey in 1912, purchasing a seven-acre parcel along today’s 64 Avenue at 181A Street. They were among the earliest Black families in that area. The family ran a farm, but all that […]
On August 12, 1911, the Canadian government issued its infamous Order in Council to limit Black immigration to Canada. The purpose of the order was to ban Black persons from entering Canada for a period of one year, supposedly for the reason that “the Negro race … is deemed unsuitable […]
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, the Black population numbered approximately 800. There […]
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 about the Smith business. The article reports on the history […]
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, Arkansas in 1873. His return visit […]
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 taken in his studio at the Occidental Hotel in […]
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 Saanich School circa 1879 to 1884. […]
In the initial stages of this church, Blacks and whites met in homes for prayer meetings. On May 3, 1876, 15 people, including Black pioneers Fielding and Julia Spotts, Thomas W. Pierre and Augustus Christopher, met to organize the First Baptist Church. This was the first Baptist cause to be […]
Emily Arabella (Emma) Stark was the daughter of Louis and Sylvia Stark. She was appointed the first teacher in the new North Cedar School in August 1874, becoming the first Black teacher on Vancouver Island. Emma grew up on Salt Spring Island, arriving with her parents, grandparents and 1 brother […]
Pompey Jackson is thought to be the oldest person buried at Ross Bay Cemetery (Site No. G42 W18). On October 3,1873 the British Daily Colonist carried a brief notice of his death “Old Jackson, a colored man, aged 111 years, died near the Royal Oak yesterday (October 2, 1873). He […]
When the township of Salt Spring was incorporated in Spring 1873, John Craven Jones, the island school teacher, and Henry William Robinson, originally from Bermuda, were elected to the seven-member council. Robinson served as the council secretary. Salt Spring Island remained incorporated for about 10 years. Today the island is […]
Although Peter Lester sat as a juror in February 1860, Black men were not on the “official list of jurors maintained by the Sheriff’s office” as had been promised by Governor Douglas. In March 1872, Black residents presented a petition to the Legislative Assembly requesting that their names be added […]
John Sullivan Deas took over the salmon canning business that had been started by Edward Stamp and pre-empted the land between Delta and Richmond that now bears his name. The British Colonist newspaper reported on July 25, 1872, “At the Fishery which is carried on by Mr. Deas some 300 […]
The total population of the province in 1871 was 36,427. That number included 8,576 (23.7%) British/Continental European, 1,548 (4.3%) Asian, and an estimated 25,661 (70.8%) Indigenous. Source: Jean Barman “The West Beyond the West”, pg. 429. The official census for the Government of Canada reported 462 “coloured” people in the […]
By 1871, the federal government of Canada finally promised to build a railway to British Columbia. However the railway was not completed until 1885! By a United Kingdom Order in Council, British Columbia became the sixth province on July 20,1871. Sir Joseph Trutch was appointed the first Lieutenant Governor, and […]
John Anderson, a local correspondent for “The Elevator” a San Francisco newspaper, wrote of the effects of the Barkerville fire, “Mr. Editor: —Since I last wrote you, we have met with a serious calamity— Barkerville has been entirely destroyed by fire, and it has been a ruinous loss to many…among […]
On September 14,1868, 26 delegates from the BC colonies met at Yale, BC for a convention of the Confederation League. The Confederation League was led by Amor de Cosmos, then a B.C. legislative council member. Mifflin Gibbs, represented Salt Spring Island. The convention stimulated popular support for the union with […]
On July, 1, 1867 The British North America Act came into effect marking the birth of the Dominion of Canada; comprising four provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. Ottawa was chosen as the capital and recently knighted Sir John A. Macdonald was the first prime minister. In 1982, […]