New tour on the Living History of Little Jamaica, unveiling Black History plaques, honouring a pioneering trans soul singer, and more

Little Jamaica on Eglington Avenue West, June 30, 2022. Image: Ashley Duffus

February 2023

EQUITY HERITAGE INITIATIVE

The living history of Little Jamaica

We're pleased to launch the Living History of Little Jamaica - a new experience featuring the stories and voices of the business owners, residents, artists, and community activists of the neighbourhood.

While a decade of transit construction has created immense economic challenges for the area, Little Jamaica along Eglinton Avenue remains a vibrant centre of music, language, business, and food for many Black Torontonians, including the 150,000 Black people of Jamaican descent living in the city today.

For this online tour, Victoria Atteh, as the programming coordinator under the Equity Heritage Initiative, worked with eight community members to present the history and importance of Little Jamaica in their own words:

Roland Beggs, local resident and owner of Beggs Hair Studio, whose plans to study civil engineering were transformed by an apprenticeship in a neighbourhood barbershop.

Jay Douglas, acclaimed local musician and community activist, who immigrated to the area as a young man to rejoin his mother, a domestic worker.

Adrian Hayles, local resident, artist and community activist, who has created several murals in Toronto including the Reggae Lane mural, and works to support unhoused people in the area.

Shane Kenney, co-owner of Trea-Jah-Isle Records and a Rastafarian, who grew up in Rexdale with his Jamaican mother and often visited Little Jamaica with her.

Elaine Lloyd-Robinson, community worker and founder of GHETTO Stories, whose work with youth and adults in Little Jamaica is based on her experience as a young unhoused mother before moving into Toronto Public Housing.

D’Andra Montaque, owner of Empress Mane Hair Salon, who grew up in Little Jamaica with her large extended family.

Carole Rose, co-owner of RAP's Restaurant, who studied hairdressing but after a chance encounter, followed by marriage, now co-owns and manages a local restaurant, known for its jerk chicken.

Claude Thompson, regional manager of JN Money Services, a business which allows members of the Caribbean diaspora to send money back home.

EXPLORE NOW

After you immerse yourself in these lived experiences of Little Jamaica, mark your calendars for a big community event coming in May. Stay tuned for more information in our next issue.

This digital tour is part of Heritage Toronto's Equity Heritage Initiative, made possible by TD Bank and funding from:

Dr. Alexander Thomas Augusta and Dr. Anderson Ruffin Abbott, both about 1863

PLAQUES

Celebrating Toronto's first Black doctors

For Black History Month, Heritage Toronto is pleased to announce new plaques honouring Canada's early Black physicians. After being excluded from American medical schools, Dr. Alexander Thomas Augusta studied at the University of Toronto to become the first Black man to receive his medical license in Canada. An activist and philanthropist, Augusta supported anti-slavery, anti-segregation, and literacy causes. After his death in 1890, he became the first Black officer to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Born in Toronto, Dr. Anderson Ruffin Abbott was the first Black Canadian to become a licensed medical doctor. Like Augusta, his friend and mentor, Abbott served in the American Civil War. He later became the acting resident surgeon at Toronto General Hospital and the Kent County Coroner. He died in Toronto in 1913, having advocated for racial equality in education and broken barriers in the medical field.

These two plaques will be unveiled at a special ceremony at Seeley Hall, Trinity College on February 9, attended by donors and supporters. They will be installed in May and accessible to all Torontonians at Doctors Parkette, 15 Brunswick Ave, near Abbott's former home, and for Augusta at College and Queen's Park Crescent.

Below we highlight two other plaques that you can see on city streets now that also feature stories from our city's Black community.

Hurricane Carter

Location: 89 King Street East

The American boxer Rubin Carter (1937-2014), "Hurricane Carter", was jailed 18 years for a triple murder he didn’t commit. His battle for justice and eventual exoneration inspired Bob Dylan's popular protest ballad and a Hollywood movie starring Denzel Washington.

Following his release, Carter moved to Toronto where he became an advocate for the wrongly convicted and criminal justice reform. Carter helped free many wrongly convicted Canadians, and worked with the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted and the Innocence Project.

Le Coq D'Or

Location: 322 Yonge Street

Under the ownership of the Bulucon family, Le Coq d’Or Tavern was a must-visit venue in downtown Toronto for over two decades. Spread across multiple floors, you could find go-go dancers, a dance hall for teenagers, and even a resident celebrity musician, Ronnie Hawkins.

At the core of the racy Yonge Street Strip, the venue also helped shape the music style known as the "Toronto Sound," and highlighted Black music featuring legendary soul and R&B performers including Bo Diddley, Solomon Burke, the Cougars featuring Jay Douglas, and the incomparable Jackie Shane.

Learn more

Jackie Shane, 1960s. Image: Banger Films

Join the grassroots campaign for a Jackie Shane plaque!

We're excited to support our first grassroots community fundraiser for a plaque. Championed by Amanda Burt, a producer on the forthcoming documentary Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story, anticipated for release in 2024, the plaque will memoralize the pioneering trans soul singer who packed nightclubs and electrified Toronto's music scene in the 1960s. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Jackie Shane (1940-2019) said: "One can not chose where one is born, but you can choose your home. I chose Toronto".

Help us honour that choice and celebrate her extraordinary contribution to our city's music legacy and heritage.

JOIN THE CAMPAIGN

A man stands behind a steelpan. He wears a black tank top. Behind him is a large body of water and the city skyline of Toronto.

Earl La Pierre Junior of "Sons of Steel" steelband. November, 2020. Image: Earl La Pierre Junior

EDUCATION & ENGAGEMENT

Timbre from Trinidad to Toronto

This Black History Month we revisit the importance of steelpan to Toronto's music and Trinbagonian community through the first-hand accounts of four leading steelpan artists.

While propelled in public popularity by school and community-based programs beginning in the 1980s, and competitions and performances at Caribbean-Canadian events, today's steelpan bands continue to face challenges in securing funding and practice spaces. For more on steelpan's roots and future, dive into this digital experience.

EXPLORE NOW

This digital story was developed by Emerging Historian Jodie Chinnery in partnership with the 2022 LA&PS Internship Program through York University, and made possible by program champions:

Emerging historians Jodie Chinnery (left) and Faith Ebanks (centre) with musician Carole Brown on the Little Jamaica tour, June 30, 2022. Image: Ashley Duffus

EMERGING HISTORIANS

Grow your career with us!

Are you working towards a career in heritage advocacy and community consultation? We are hiring a full-time, 12-month Project Coordinato r under our Equity Heritage Initiative. This role will support the development and launch of the State of Heritage Report, a major public policy report that provides recommendations to municipal leadership on heritage planning and programs across the City of Toronto. The application deadline is tomorrow, February 3!

APPLY NOW

This opportunity is part of Heritage Toronto's Equity Heritage Initiative, made possible by TD Bank and funding from:

HERITAGE HAPPENINGS

CELEBRATE

Love letters for SLNA's 40th

In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Association (SLNA) is writing love letters this Valentine’s Day.

The love fest begins on February 4 and culminates on February 14, when friends and residents will drop by St. Lawrence Hall to write a love letter to one of the Toronto’s most historic and vibrant neighborhoods. One thousand letters will be hidden throughout the area for residents and visitors to find, and ten large love letters will be posted in iconic spots for selfies to post on social media for prizes.

Event info

Carnival & The Caribbean Experience

This Black History Month explore the history of Carnival. Did you know that scheduled on the first Saturday of August, the event commemorates the emancipation of enslaved people in Canada.

Explore the timeline

READ

Fighting the rise in antisemitism through Holocaust education

With fewer Holocaust survivors to share their stories firsthand, a look at current efforts to reach and teach younger generations and counter Holocaust distortion and denial. (Global News)

What's going on with Toronto foundry property 2 years after demolition crews moved in?

After a court injunction and a subsequent settlement, little has been revealed on the property’s sale and future. (CityNews)

'It was kind of scary': How this 99-year-old blazed a trail for Black teachers in Ontario

Millie Burgess landed her first teaching job in Toronto in 1957, but decades later some of the same challenges she faced remain in the Ontario school system. (CBC)

GET SOCIAL WITH US