While reported incidents of discrimination in Victoria’s theatres date back to 1860, the most noted incident happened on September 25, 1861 when Mifflin and Maria Gibbs, family friend Nathan Pointer and Pointer’s daughter attended a hospital benefit at the Victoria...
On April 12, 1861 President Abraham Lincoln declared war between the Union and Confederate states. An estimated four million enslaved people in 15 states and territories were “owned” by 52,128 slaveholders. There were also an estimated 400,000 free African Americans....
The “First Victoria Directory” was originally published in March 1860. It is “comprised of a general directory of citizens, also, an Officials list, list of voters, postal arrangements and notices of trades and professions; preceded by a preface and synopsis of...
By the spring of 1860, 40 to 50 Black men had enrolled in the Victoria Pioneer Rifle Corps and in July 1861 were officially sworn in. The Royal Navy supplied drill sergeants and the Corps financed and built a drill house. The Victoria Pioneer Rifle Corps is considered...
The Daily Colonist reported on a “difference of opinion” between Rev. W.F. Clarke and Rev. M. MacFie, both missionaries sent to Victoria from England by the Congregational Missionary Society, “Mr. Clark holds that Christianity knows no difference between the...