S5E47: Africville Fights Back

Описание: This episode shares what I learned from the book, Africville: An African Nova Scotian Community Is Demolished-and Fights Back. It is written by Gloria Ann Wesley.

This episode gets a bit into early Black settlements in Nova Scotia. From 1713 to 1758, around 200 enslaved Black people were living in the French areas of Cape Breton. More enslaved Africans were brought in by New England Planters after the Acadians were deported to the United States in 1755. After 1783, White Loyalists who fled the U.S. brought 1200 more enslaved Africans to the Maritimes. There were also free Black Loyalists in the area. They gained their freedom by siding with the British. In 1792, 1196 free Black Loyalists protested anti-Black racism and petitioned the Canadian government to send them to Sierra Leone.

After the War of 1812, more enslaved Africans arrived as refugees from Georgia and Chesapeake Bay coastal area, including Maryland and Virginia. They came to Nova Scotia between 1813 and 1816. William Brown and William Arnold are the earliest recorded Black people in 1848. They bought land in Africville. As the community expanded, they built a close knit unit. By the time of the Halifax Explosion in 1917, there were about 400 people living in Africville. They built their own school, a church, post office, and boiled well water due to poor infrastructure the city refused to help them with.

The community was demolished in the 60s, and replaced with new developments, including a dog park. Former residents were given a public apology in 2010 by Mayor Peter Kelly. A commemorative stamp was created for Africville in 2014. The book maps out a timeline from 1749 to 2017.