Black Refugees in Canada


Book Description

Thousands of black people sought refuge in Canada before the U.S. Civil War. While most refugees encountered at least some racism among Canadian citizens, many of those same refugees also thrived under the auspices of the Canadian government, which worked to protect blacks from the U.S. slaveowners who sought to re-enslave them. This work brings to light the life stories of several nineteenth-century black refugees who managed to survive in their new country by gaining work as barbers, postal carriers, washerwomen, waiters, cab owners, ministers, newspaper editors, and physicians. The book begins with a short historical account of blacks in Canada from 1629 until the early 1800s, when the first groups of escaped slaves began to enter the country.




Blacks on the Border


Book Description

A study of the emergence of community among African Americans in Nova Scotia.




The Freedom-seekers


Book Description




The African Diaspora in Canada


Book Description

This book addresses the conceptual difficulties and political contestations surrounding the applicability of the term "African-Canadian". In the midst of this contested terrain, the volume focuses on first generation, Black Continental Africans who have immigrated to Canada in the last four decades, and have traceable genealogical links to the continent.




Black Loyalists


Book Description

“Engaging and steeped in years of research . . . a must read for all who care about the intersection of Canadian, American, British, and African history.” —Lawrence Hill, award-winning author of Someone Knows My Name In an attempt to ruin the American economy during the Revolutionary War, the British government offered freedom to slaves who would desert their rebel masters. Many Black men and women escaped to the British fleet patrolling the East Coast, or to the British armies invading the colonies from Maine to Georgia. After the final surrender of the British to the Americans, New York City was evacuated by the British Army throughout the summer and fall of 1783. Carried away with them were a vast number of White Loyalists and their families, and over 3,000 Black Loyalists: free, indentured, apprenticed, or still enslaved. More than 2,700 Black people came to Nova Scotia with the fleet from New York City. Black Loyalists strives to present hard data about the lives of Nova Scotia Black Loyalists before they escaped slavery in early South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, and after they settled in Nova Scotia—to tell the little-known story of some very brave and enterprising men and women who survived the chaos of the American Revolution, people who found a way to pass through the heart, ironically, of a War for Liberty, to find their own liberty and human dignity. Includes historical images and documents




Refugee States


Book Description

Refugee States explores how the figure of the refugee and the concept of refuge shape the Canadian nation-state within a transnational context.




Blacks in Canada


Book Description

**** A sweeping historical survey covering all aspects of the Black experience in Canada, from 1628 through the 1960s. Investigates the French and English periods of slavery, the abolitionist movement in Canada, and the role played by Canadians in the broader antislavery crusade, as well as Canadian adaptations to 19th- and 20th-century racial mores. First published in 1971 by Yale University Press. This second edition includes a new introduction outlining changes that have occurred since the book's first appearance and discussing the state of African-Canadian studies today. Cited in BCL3. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




Understanding the Refugee Experience in the Canadian Context


Book Description

This volume on the resilience, commitment, and survival of refugees brings together the latest research and insights from 32 authors across multiple disciplines, united in their pursuit of social justice for the economic, social, and political rights of refugees. The book adopts a reflexive and relational stance without compromising the rigour and quality of research to allow the reader to appreciate the shared and distinct immigration and (re)settlement experiences of refugees and their communities in all of their complexity. This book will be a valuable resource to, and a source of reflection for, researchers, educators, students, service providers, and policymakers who are committed to envisioning Canada as a country where all newcomers feel rooted and safe.




Africville


Book Description

Finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award, Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books When a young girl visits the site of Africville, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the stories she’s heard from her family come to mind. She imagines what the community was once like — the brightly painted houses nestled into the hillside, the field where boys played football, the pond where all the kids went rafting, the bountiful fishing, the huge bonfires. Coming out of her reverie, she visits the present-day park and the sundial where her great- grandmother’s name is carved in stone, and celebrates a summer day at the annual Africville Reunion/Festival. Africville was a vibrant Black community for more than 150 years. But even though its residents paid municipal taxes, they lived without running water, sewers, paved roads and police, fire-truck and ambulance services. Over time, the city located a slaughterhouse, a hospital for infectious disease, and even the city garbage dump nearby. In the 1960s, city officials decided to demolish the community, moving people out in city dump trucks and relocating them in public housing. Today, Africville has been replaced by a park, where former residents and their families gather each summer to remember their community.




“Where Are You From?”


Book Description

Metro Vancouver is a diverse city where half the residents identify as people of colour, but only one percent of the population is racialized as Black. In this context, African-Canadians are both hyper-visible as Black, and invisible as distinct communities. Informed by feminist and critical race theories, and based on interviews with women and men who grew up in Vancouver, "Where Are You From?" recounts the unique experience of growing up in a place where the second generation seldom sees other people who look like them, and yet are inundated with popular representations of Blackness from the United States. This study explores how the second generation in Vancouver redefine their African identities to distinguish themselves from African-Americans, while continuing to experience considerable everyday racism that challenges belonging as Canadians. As a result, some members of the second generation reject, and others strongly assert, a Canadian identity.