BC Black History Timeline
Emery Barnes served on the BC provincial legislature for many years and was the first speaker in BC to be elected by a secret ballot. Through the advocacy of his family, Vancouver Parks Board named a multi-use, accessible park at the intersection of Richards Street and Davie Street in his honour.
Barack Obama was elected President on November 4, 2008, becoming the first African American to hold this office. He was re-elected in 2012 to serve a second term.
An activist, feminist, opponent of racism, and champion of human rights, and the first Black woman elected to public office in Canada. Rosemary Brown contributed much to her adopted country after she came to Canada from Jamaica in 1950. She received many awards and honors, and greatly deserved being recognized by a commemorative stamp. The Rosemary Brown Award for Women was established in 2004 through Simon Fraser University and is awarded annually recognizing and honouring a BC based woman or organization that promotes the values and ideals which Rosemary Brown championed. Find out more
On February 24, 2010, Halifax Mayor Kelly delivered the Africville Apology, which begins: “On behalf of the Halifax Regional Municipality, I apologize to the former Africville residents and their descendants for what they have endured for almost 50 years, ever since the loss of their community that had stood on the shores of Bedford Basin for more than 150 years. You lost your houses, your church, all of the places where you gathered with family and friends to mark the milestones of your lives. For all that, we apologize….”
The City also provided $4.5 million in compensation. The replica church opened in 2011 and is now the Africville Museum.
In 1986, the Vancouver Historical Society formally declared Joe Fortes as “Vancouver Citizen of the Century.” He was credited with saving at least 29 lives from drowning, including adults and children, as well as teaching three generations of Vancouver children to swim. This stamp was issued in his honour on February 1, 2013.
Joe’s story
Hogan’s Alley was the unofficial name for Park Lane in Vancouver’s Strathcona neighbourhood. With an estimated population of 800 at its peak in the 1950’s to 1960’s, it was a place to live and work together. The area was a hub, with thriving Black-owned businesses and a diverse and inclusive community that provided a strong network for families.
Two prominent residents are pictured—Fielding William Spotts who grew up in Victoria, moved to Vancouver in 1902, lived and owned a business in Hogan’s Alley until his death in 1937 at the age of 79. Nora Hendrix, the grandmother of famed musician Jimi Hendrix, arrived circa 1912. She was a community leader and co-founder of Vancouver’s first Black church, the African Methodist Episcopal Fountain Chapel at Prior and Jackson Avenue
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 “We did this fantastic show. It couldn’t have been better planned. We played in Victoria at Government House, just he and I. It was a huge crowd. We were piped in no less and the Lieutenant- Governor introduced us.”
Image: Leon Bibb and The Honourable Judith Guichon cutting his birthday cake on February 7, 2014. Photographer: Beth Cruise, © BC Black History Awareness Society.
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 predominantly white neighbourhoods. She responded by fostering the values of equality and acceptance within her community —and consequently became a civic leader and pioneer in the development of British Columbia’s music industry. Celebrated for her extensive career as a jazz singer with CBC Radio and Television, she became one of the first Black artists in North America to host a nationally broadcast television series.”
Image courtesy of Judith Maxie
Toni Boot had been active in her community for many years, serving on various boards including Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen board, Okanagan Basin Water Board, Okanagan-Similkameen Regional Hospital Board and Grasslands Conservation Council of BC. Toni Boot served as a councillor in Summerland, BC for four years and was then elected Mayor in 2018.
Image courtesy of Toni Boot
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 met with numerous federal and provincial government agencies as well as NGO’s and academics. Their August 16, 2017 report includes a Historical Overview of Canada, Demographics and 41 Recommendations.
The report concluded, “Despite Canada’s reputation for promoting multiculturalism and diversity and the positive measures taken by the national and provincial governments, the Working Group is deeply concerned about the structural racism that lies at the core of many Canadian institutions and the systemic anti-Black racism that continues to have a negative impact on the human rights situation of African-Canadians.”
Lincoln Alexander had more than a dozen business, provincial and national awards, honours, recognition and titles. This day commemorating him is now celebrated each year. He was recognized, among other reasons, as:
One of the first Black men to serve in the Royal Canadian Air Force
The first Black Member of Parliament in the House of Commons
The first Black federal Cabinet Minister, serving as federal Minister of Labour
The first Black Chair of the Worker’s Compensation Board
The 24th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1985 to 1991
Doug Hudlin worked for the City of Victoria, but his love was being on the field as an umpire. He umpired generations of Vancouver Island ball players over four decades and is remembered as the “Gentleman Umpire”. The City of Victoria commissioned this plaque. It was unveiled at the National Little League Park on Hillside Ave, Victoria on June 11, 2022. The plaque reads:
In 2017, the City of Victoria recognized June 11 as Doug Hudlin Day. Doug was a long serving employee of the City and was chosen as the first non-American umpire — and the only Black non-American umpire — to work the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and did so twice. Doug was inducted into the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame, the BC Baseball Umpires Association Hall of Fame, and has been recognized at National Little League Park and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. He was also a Little League Umpire Alumni and a founding member of the British Columbia Black History Awareness Society.
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
In 1946 she challenged racial segregation by refusing to leave a whites-only area of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. The award-winning $10.00 bill was unveiled in March 2018 and went into circulation in November 2018. In this same year, Viola Desmond was named a National Historic Person by the Canadian government.
Mifflin Gibbs was designated as a Person of National Historic Significance on April 20, 2009. On February 19, 2017, Canada presented a plaque to that effect to BC Black History Awareness Society and the City of Victoria. It was unveiled at a ceremony on May 4, 2019 at Irving Park where Gibbs’ home was located. Ceremonies continued at the sxʷeŋxʷəŋ təŋəxʷ James Bay Library Branch, which also houses the “Mifflin Wistar Gibbs Study Room.” Dr. Verna Gibbs, great-great grandniece, attended the ceremonies dedicating the room and the unveiling of the plaque.
Mifflin Wistar Gibbs 1823-1915
After helping lead the exodus of 800 Black residents from San Francisco in 1858, Gibbs became the recognized leader of their community on Vancouver Island. He strove to make these newcomers a force in colonial politics and, as a member of Victoria City Council; he became the first Black person to hold elected office in British Columbia. This innovative entrepreneur, who invested in mining and trade, also encouraged the integration of Black settlers and advocated for their rights. Though he returned to the United States in 1870, Gibbs remains a revered historical figure in the province’s African-Canadian community.
Image: Shayli Robinson, Photographer; BCBHAS Collection
Designed and developed by our Society, British Columbia Black Pioneers is a collection of short stories about women, men, families, and partnerships that show the intricacies of the events, experiences, and circumstances of everyday life of the Black pioneers, such as winning prizes at the earliest Saanich Fair in 1875, organizing by women in Victoria to raise money to support Black troops in the American Civil War, and confronting discrimination while still achieving many “firsts” in business, politics, and education.
BC Black History Awareness Society (BCBHAS) created this online exhibit to share their stories and describe the influence that they and their families had on the province’s historical development and diversity. The exhibit, which officially opened in December 2020, is hosted by Digital Museums Canada. Visit the online exhibit
Read about this project
Image depicts some of the intrepid pioneers who made Vancouver Island and Salt Spring Island their home beginning in 1858. Images courtesy of City of Victoria Archives, Royal BC Museum and Archives, and Salt Spring Island Archives. This collage was compiled by Beth Cruise, ©BC Black History Awareness Society.