History Student Researches Black History in Canada – Interview

 

Fourth year History student Allison Smith, is in the midst of working on her Honours Research Project which delves into Canadian black history. While conducting her research, Smith has been blogging  her findings on this important and revealing topic. She recently took the time to discuss her work with TWF.

Could you give a bit of background information on yourself and your project?

I have been working with Professor James Miller and Professor Shawn Graham on my Honours Research Project. As well, I am doing a fourth year seminar with Michael Ostroff which involves making a historical documentary film.

I also have previous undergraduate degrees in Computer Science, from Queen’s University, and in Education, from University of Western Ontario. During my years working as a systems and business consultant, I obtained a professional designation as a Certified Management Consultant, and now have my own small consulting business. But at some point along the way, I decided that I wasn’t going to want to be a consultant for my whole life, so I started saving my money so I could return to school.

As long as I can remember I have had an interest in early North America. When I was a kid, my family travelled quite a bit and we visited a lot of historical sites. We also did quite a lot of camping and particularly canoe-camping in the Algonquin interior. Perhaps as a consequence of these experiences, I was pretty intrigued by the pioneer days in North America and survival in the wilderness.

What enticed you to want to research black history in Canada?

My husband and I have visited quite a few American Civil War battle sites. Those, combined with trips to a number of Civil Rights museums in the United States, gave me an interest in American black history. About two years ago, an opportunity presented itself to develop a “virtual world” computer environment, but a constraint on the project was that it be a subject in Canadian history. I thought that the Underground Railroad might be a topic with good visual imagery for such a project. That project is now on hold, but in the meantime, I am proceeding with another New Media project about black history in Canada.

Why did you choose to blog your work?

Dr. Graham was the person who suggested that I write a blog following my research. He and Dr. Miller, as my supervisors, use it as a way to follow my research progress. I’ve never done this before, but I love it and plan to use a blog for future research. It’s a way for me to organize my thoughts and structure them into coherent, presentable ideas for public consumption. I post a blog entry every week, and finish each entry with a plan for the following week. This is a good way for me to keep myself on track. I feel like each weekly plan is a sort of contract with Drs. Miller and Graham that I feel motivated to fulfill. As well, it helps me to stay clear on what my weekly goal is. When you get really down-in-the-weeds doing research it’s easy to go astray and run off track. I will also add that the blog is not a waste of time as regards my final outputs. I expect to re-use portions of my blog text in my final research paper.

Compared to other nations, particularly America, does it appear to you that Canada offered a more welcoming place to live for black people in search of a new home?

The answer to this question is complicated by the fact that Canada was not always the geographical entity that it is today. It was made up of different colonies. Before 1759 much of it belonged to France and fell under French law. Later the colonies in British North American (BNA) were under British law, but even that law was not static and different colonies had different laws. One of the earliest waves of blacks entering BNA, were black United Empire Loyalists who came to Nova Scotia after the American Revolution. Their “welcome” was not very friendly, especially as the total influx of black and white United Empire Loyalists grew, and the economy was unable to accommodate all the new arrivals. The free blacks among them largely left for Sierre Leone, while the slaves had to stay behind. In 1793, Upper Canada started to put limits on slavery. But up until 1834, BNA had slavery, and for slaves, life was miserable and sometimes deadly. Even after slavery was abolished and all blacks were free, there was a considerable amount of racism. Between 1834 and 1850, BNA was similar to the northern U.S. states where slavery had also been abolished. During this time, slaves escaping from the U.S. south were more likely to remain in the U.S. north than they were to continue north of the border. But in 1850, U.S. law changed and even free blacks in the northern U.S. were no longer safe. At this point, large numbers of free blacks, as well as a continuing stream of fugitive slaves from the southern states poured into what later became Canada. It is this period about which Canadians are very proud. But even though Canadian law consistently protected blacks, the day-to-day experience of blacks in Canada involved a lot of racism and discrimination. So when slavery was abolished in the U.S. in 1865, a lot of the black Canadian population went “home” to the U.S. Through the latter part of the nineteenth century, in the popularity contest between Canada and the U.S., more blacks voted with their feet and went south than stayed in Canada.

In your opinion, what has been the most interesting information that you have discovered while conducting your research? 

One of the most surprising stories I have come across was that of the Canadian slaves who escaped Canada into the U.S. A lot of Canadians tend to think that Canada never even HAD slavery. But to think that we had slaves and that they were able to obtain refuge from us in the U.S. seems almost shocking to our image of Canada as the great northern refuge. In fact, in 1787, the Northwest Territory was formed in the U.S. including today’s State of Michigan, across the Detroit River from present-day Windsor. The law prohibited bringing slaves into this new territory, although existing slave owners were allowed to keep their slaves. So, up until 1833, when slavery was abolished in Upper Canada, slaves from Canada often crossed the Detroit River into what is now Michigan to live in freedom.

As well, I continue to find it sadly surprising that so many Canadians don’t realize that we ever had slavery in our history. It seems to be a subject that is thoroughly buried. And this buried narrative is then paved over with the proud story of Canada’s part at the northern terminus of the so-called Underground Railroad, with no mention of the racism and discrimination that happened to the blacks who escaped here.

 

Specifically, what are the primary methods you use to conduct your research (internet, archives etc.)? What have been some of the challenges you’ve faced in undertaking this research?

I have read a number of books about black history, but have also found a lot of interesting primary and secondary material online. Recently I have been searching for images for my online exhibit and have found numerous websites with excellent digital images. These sites have included Library and Archives Canada, the provincial archives, some museum websites, and some private sites. It has been a challenge to access some of this material directly but, fortunately, a lot is online. My research to date is limited to the pre-1950s period, so most of the material I am looking at is no longer under copyright restriction.

Why is it important for Canadians to garner a more precise understanding of black history in Canada?

In general, I think Canadians should want to know more about black history simply because it is interesting. The black historical narrative is not the same as the white historical narrative. While black Canadians have been a part of many of the same major historical events as white Canadians, their experience of these events has often been different. As well, black people have had some entirely different experiences in Canada.

Overall, I hope people who read my blog, and who see my exhibit (when it’s finished), will take away the message that Canada indeed had slavery in its history, and that even when Canadian law abolished slavery, that Canadian society was often not very welcoming of free blacks. And finally, I hope that people will see that, despite the harsh treatment that black people often received here, they nevertheless contributed in positive, constructive and sometimes heroic ways to our collective history and heritage.

Anything you’d like to add?

I am also working with two other students on a short documentary film about black slave, Marie Joseph Angélique, in 18th century Montreal. It will be finished at the end of this school term and will receive limited airing at that time.