RACISM AND RESISTANCE:
Early Black History in Calgary and Alberta
Words by Kay Burns
Hidden Histories
Black history in the prairies is not well known. It is missing from educational curricula and in the stories told about Alberta. The overarching narrative taught in schools and history books is that western pioneers were White, yet there is much more to the story that is little-known or untold.
“I grew up a young Black girl in Olds, Alta., without ever hearing the name Amber Valley. Amber Valley was the largest Black community ever to have existed west of Ontario. It was only an afternoon's drive away from where I lived…. there were gaping holes in my knowledge about a significant Black history that — had I learned of it as a child — would have utterly transformed my sense of belonging on the Prairies. How does history like this go missing?”¹
-Karina Vernon
“Our story was casually and precariously preserved – kept alive more by word of mouth amongst ourselves than by any canonical record or acknowledgement of our presence.”²
-Cheryl Foggo
Black communities were indeed present on the prairies. Communities such as Maidstone in Saskatchewan and Wildwood, Breton (Keystone), Campsie, and Amber Valley in Alberta were settled by Black immigrants in the early 1900s. Growing towns and cities such as Fort Macleod, Fort Saskatchewan, Lethbridge, Edmonton, and Calgary saw the arrival of Black families and individuals as early as the late nineteenth century. Individuals such as John Ware, Annie Saunders, and Daniel Lewis were important Black pioneers in the southern Alberta region and remain important historical figures in Alberta history.
EARLY BLACK HISTORY IN ALBERTA
John Ware, one of “Alberta’s best-known cowboys and ranchers” arrived in 1882 as part of a team bringing in 3000 head of cattle to southwest Calgary and opened his own ranch in Millarville in 1900. | c. 1902-1903 | NA-101-37 | Glenbow Archives
She was the nurse for Colonel James F. Macleod’s children. ‘Auntie’ was Annie Saunders. After leaving the employ of the Macleods, she ran a laundry, restaurant, and boarding home for children in Pincher Creek. | c. 1890 | E.M. Wilmot | NA-742-4 | Glenbow Archives
Daniel Lewis, homesteader and carpenter, arrived with his family in 1889. His daughter, Mildred, married John Ware. Lewis’s mastery of carpentry led him to producing some of the railings and fine woodworking details in the homes of some of Calgary’s rich. Might it be possible that he participated in building the Lougheed home in 1891? | Charlotte Lewis and Daniel Lewis, Calgary, Alberta | c. 1915 | Unknown | PD-412-3-46 | Glenbow Archives
Part of the premise of Lougheed House Re-imagined is to examine and excavate hidden or unknown histories. Obscurant histories perpetuate racial misunderstandings, prejudice, and flawed interpretations of history. By exploring some of the lesser-known stories that have been veiled through colonial systems, new awareness and recognition can emerge.
Black Immigration
Following the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, an aggressive federal government campaign (“Last Best West” 1896-1914) was initiated to bring settlers to the prairie region, to enable agricultural industries to form in the newly accessible vastness known as Canada. The government’s plan entailed a recruitment approach that encouraged farmers from eastern Canada, Britain, and the United States to come for free land.
Poster advertising “The Last Best West” | The Globe, Toronto, via Wikimedia Commons
In the United States in 1907, the Oklahoma territory became a state. ³ Many Black people living there chose to leave Oklahoma to escape extreme racism that accompanied the enforcement of Jim Crow laws.⁴ Canada and its land was an enticing prospect, and from 1908 to 1911 nearly a thousand Black people moved to Alberta.⁵ This was seen as unacceptable by certain local organizations and community members, who actively complained and worked against the idea of Black settlers coming to Alberta and Calgary.
“The Canadian government would eventually attract more than a half million American farmers. What never occurred to Canadian officials was that Blacks, many of whom now looked to Canada as a favourable option, numbered among those farmers. The extensive promotion campaign with its exaggerated claims now had to be reversed where Blacks were concerned. How could the government explain that the western prairies would be great for white farmers but not for Black?”⁶
It wasn’t easy for newly arrived Black settlers: “They faced the challenge of not only taming a rough and unforgiving land, but as well encountered a harsh climate of intolerance...”⁷ Vocal settler colonial residents complained of the increasing Black population in Alberta. The Board of Trade in Edmonton lobbied against Black immigration and “circulated a petition signed by roughly 3000 people and endorsed by the Morinville, Calgary, and Fort Saskatchewan Boards of Trade” which was sent to the Wilfred Laurier government in request to ban Black immigrants.⁸ Other organizations in Alberta added fuel, such as the Imperial Order of Daughters of the Empire (IODE) who also wrote harsh letters “arguing that the ‘rapid influx of Negro settlers’ would bring property values down and discourage Whites from settling in the vicinity of Black farmers.”⁹ In addition, the IODE and the United Farmers Association “sent petitions and letters citing black sexual impropriety and physical unsuitability as reason to bar black immigration.”¹⁰
Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier approved an Order-in-Council that proposed to ban Black immigration for a one-year period in response to the petition and other complaints. The order did not pass into law, however, due to concerns of disrupting trade negotiations with the United States.¹¹ Instead, covert interventions took place both within the land promotions in the States and at the border. Government representatives were sent to the United States to discourage Black people from coming to Canada through stories of hardship, and the “Ministry of Immigration developed stringent medical exams, and doctors were offered bonuses for every Black they turned away at the Border.”¹²
“Negro immigrants subjected to rigorous medical examination.” | March 22, 1911 | Edmonton Bulletin
Social Organizations
Colonial practices of the dominant White culture perpetuated racism and exclusion in Alberta. Black communities sought to create their own gathering places and organizations. In rural communities and in cities “the Black church was the focal point for the pioneers […] the church fulfilled the community’s recreational, social, educational, and spiritual needs.”¹³ For those who were not inclined towards religious or church events, the “club, league, or lodge provided a sense of ‘belonging.’”¹⁴
Social groups were formed in Black communities during the early part of the twentieth century as “benevolent organizations designed to bring people together and help them to engage with politics, art, religion, and culture.”¹⁵ Several were organized in Edmonton because it had the largest urban Black population in the prairies and was at the centre of several vibrant rural black communities located within a hundred miles of the city.¹⁶ The Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), a worldwide organization started in Jamaica in 1914, was created to “further the human rights agenda through the promotion of racial uplift through Black agency.”¹⁷ By the 1930s, fifteen UNIA branches opened in Canada, including branches in Edmonton and Calgary.¹⁸
A group called the Colored People’s Protective Association was present in early Calgary. Evidence of its activities exists within the local newspapers of the time. In October 1910, the association held a ball attended by a hundred and fifty people. The Calgary Herald wrote that it was “one of the most successful balls of the season” and that “many white people came to indulge in the festive spirit of the evening.”¹⁹ An inverse situation of White settlers inviting or accepting Black community members into their own events was much less likely.
“Negro immigrants subjected to rigorous medical examination.” | March 22, 1911 | Edmonton Bulletin
However, it was not unusual for the dominant culture to toss nefarious accusations against Black community members. In 1912, an article in the Calgary News Telegram accuses the Colored Protective Association of supporting criminal activity. The journalist asks lawyer F. E. Eaton if the society was organized “for the purpose of practically promoting crime by the protection of criminals.”²⁰ Mr. Eaton responds by stating that the organization does provide funds to members who are prisoners and believed to be innocent, “But what is wrong with this? If a member of any other lodge is in trouble, don’t members of his order often come to his assistance by providing money for his defence? Yet none of these eminently respectable bodies would be accused of protecting criminals.”²¹
Resistance
Social organizations emerged in resistance to discrimination that Black people encountered in Calgary. Individuals also acted in response to racism. In 1914, Charles Daniels, a Black man, arranged to purchase tickets to attend a performance of King Lear at the Grand Theatre. When he arrived, he was not permitted to sit in the seat allocated by his ticket and was told that instead he must sit in the “coloured” section. Shortly after this incident he brought a legal case against the theatre’s owner, James Lougheed, and the theatre manager, William Sherman.²²
“Colored Man is Suing Theatre for Refusal to Grant Admission” | March 3, 1914 | Calgary Herald
In 1920, a delegation of 472 White residents of Victoria Park, a community at the east end of the Beltline just a few blocks from the Lougheed home, brought a petition to City Council requesting that Black people not be allowed to buy homes in their neighbourhood and that those Black people who were already there be relocated elsewhere.²³ The City investigated the options and sought input from other cities across Canada, and found there was no precedent for banning or segregating Black citizens from communities. One alderman suggested they look to cities in the United States instead for precedents of segregation.²⁴ As there was no legal way for the petitioners to obtain their wishes, a committee was struck to try and reach an agreement. The committee included members of city council, members of the petition delegation, and Black residents Mr. Stewart and Mr. Davis and their lawyer Mr. R.S. Burns. Mr. Burns pointed out that there could be no question whatsoever of the Black citizens’ legal rights to live where they chose, “but that they were willing to meet the white people who were objecting to their coming in a spirit of friendliness to discuss any settlement possible.”²⁵ While the Black residents living in Victoria Park had no plans to leave, the agreement entailed getting the Black residents to dissuade any further Black people from moving into the neighbourhood, even though they could not possibly be held responsible for strangers coming in. Calgary’s mayor, Robert Marshall, indicated “the most important point to be settled was that of preventing any more coloured people from moving into the disputed neighbourhood.” While he acknowledged that the “coloured deputation had accepted this suggestion,” he continued with the idea that “one of the best methods of preventing like trouble in the future was to get after real estate men who made such transfers.”²⁶ The so-called amicable settlement highlights the racist attitudes present within Calgary.
“Petition Against Negroes Settling in Certain Area” | April 26, 1920 | Calgary Herald
Page 1 of 14 page petition | 1920 | City of Calgary Archives, City Clerks Correspondence
Black residents living within the city encountered hostility as a regular part of their lives. Worker unions sought only White labour, and Black citizens were confronted with racism in many city businesses. Many Black men in Canada were employed as Sleeping Car Porters for the CPR from the late nineteenth century until mid-twentieth century.²⁷ They faced discrimination in their roles and within the communities that were their home base. In Calgary, porters were often denied service in restaurants but found alternative places to meet: “They were welcomed by Chinese proprietors of a few cafes in particular in the 20s and 30s – the Chrystal Café and the Canadian Café, and the White owner of another – the Palace Café.”²⁸
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This research only covers a few of the many circumstances and situations encountered by Black people in early Alberta; it demonstrates attitudes of White settler colonial systems and individuals within Calgary as it was growing. Black communities resisted and persisted; other social groups formed, and other activism occurred during the middle years of the twentieth century and beyond. For Lougheed House, as a museum with settler colonial origins, we are obligated to continue to unearth and concede stories of oppression, to acknowledge past inequities so that current systemic inequities can be recognized, revealed, and redressed.
Many thanks to Cheryl Foggo, a member of our Community Advisory Committee, for her review of the article.