THE NATION'S LARGEST AFRICAN AMERICAN ORAL HISTORY ARCHIVE
July 13, 2018 - Vol. 1, Issue 41
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Making Connections: The Black Community in Nova Scotia
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Above: 'The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781' by John Singleton Copley.
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Last week, The HistoryMakers founder and executive director Julieanna L. Richardson traveled to Nova Scotia, where she was invited to speak about the project. This was her second visit in years. The history between the U.S. and black Nova Scotians is in many ways the same.
Canada’s largest black population is found in Nova Scotia, where in the 18th century early settlers preceded the migration of black Loyalists, slaves, refugees, and Jamaican Maroons.
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Indeed, several of our HistoryMakers have familial roots in the province. The maternal ancestors of
Melvin Miller
were among the black Loyalist migration--those who were promised freedom and cultivable land in exchange for loyalty to the British Crown. Miller explains,
“They [Miller’s ancestors] were transported over here with the intention that they should be slaves, but they went with the British in the Revolutionary War, and were granted land grants in Nova Scotia.”
Miller goes on to describe the relatedness among Nova Scotia’s black community:
“You have to remember that it was easy to be related to people because, back in those days, the population was so small.”
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[Melvin Miller, THMDA 1.2.4]
.
Elsewhere in The HistoryMakers archive, cultural heritage educator
Donald George
spoke about his paternal family’s Nova Scotian background. His ancestors included the black Loyalist and Baptist preacher David George, who after the Revolutionary War moved with his family to Nova Scotia. There, Colonel Samuel Birch provided him with a certificate of allegiance. However, the British government reneged on its promises, including opportunities for land ownership and apprenticeship. Some discontented black Loyalist families embarked ships in Halifax, and sailed for Sierra Leone, where David George, Thomas Peters and John Clarkson served as the founding fathers of Freetown. Donald George spoke in his interview about his ancestors’ experiences:
“It was not an easy journey. Even when they get there, there was a power struggle between Peters and Clarkson, but the mediator has always been my great-ancestor, David George. He has always been the one that people would look up to--to give some leadership, some direction and some words of wisdom on how to handle things.”
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[Donald George, THMDA 1.2.2]
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The parents of Massachusetts politician
Melvin King
met in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, after they moved there for greater employment opportunities. Of his mother’s cooking, King remembers:
“We used to get surplus food from the city, state--wherever it came from; a lot of the people who got it didn’t want it, and so they would give it to my mother…People would give her the raisins, the dried apples, the prunes, and she could do amazing things with that--make raisin pie. I found out later that that’s a recipe that she may have gotten in Nova Scotia ‘cause when we looked at a recipe book from Nova Scotia, it had raisin pie in it.”
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[The Honorable Melvin King, THMDA 1.2.8]
. Today, the history of the black community in Nova Scotia is documented and represented at cultural institutions like the Black Loyalist Heritage Centre, located in Birchtown--a few hours’ drive south of Halifax.
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Political science and public policy professor
Paula McClain
wrote her dissertation on the Afro-Canadian experience in Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. Through her fieldwork, McClain observed some pronounced differences between black Canadians and African Americans, most notably concerning the value of education, which was more apparent in the U.S. than Canada. She notes of the civil rights era:
“When I regrouped and learned a lot about the Canadian governmental structure, I realize that a national civil rights movement would not be possible in Canada because of the parliamentary structure…the organizing to pressure parliament was not going to get you anywhere. So you ended up with these very localized groups in Nova Scotia, in Quebec, in Ontario, that then you worked to get the provincial governments to pass legislation guaranteeing certain civil rights.”
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[Paula McClain, THMDA 1.4.5]
. McClain went on to publish her first monograph, ‘Alienation and Resistance: The Political Behavior of Afro-Canadians,’ in 1979.
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Salute To Cleveland HistoryMakers At Karamu House
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Back row
: Leon Bibb, James Whitley, George Cylie Fraser, Paul Hill, Edward Parker, Guion Bluford, Isaiah Blankson, Harry Boomer, Steven A. Minter, Peter Lawson Jones
Front row
: William Whitley, Wadsworth A. Jarrell, Sr., Marcella Boyd Cox, The Honorable C. Ellen Connally, Helen Turner-Thompson, A. Grace Lee Mims, Dolores White
Also featured
: Harry King (Back row, far left); Stella Whitley (Front row, middle); Lillian King (Front row, far right)
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Yesterday, for the first time in its eighteen year history,
The HistoryMakers paid homage to the Cleveland area HistoryMakers in a reception hosted at the historic Karamu House, thanks to the generosity of President and CEO Tony Sias.
The Arena Theatre was filled to capacity as the audience heard The HistoryMakers founder and executive director Julieanna Richardson provide background on the organization. She challenged the audience to work with The HistoryMakers organization to ensure that the African American legacy is not lost. She also focused the importance on their papers being preserved in area archival collections.
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Co-chairs HistoryMaker
Marcella Boyd Cox
and Rhonda Crowder of
Who’s Who in Black Cleveland
worked closely over the past eight months as organizers. “We are thrilled by what Marcella Boyd Cox and Rhonda Crowder helped make possible. They helped guide our work here and we owe them an eternal debt of gratitude," said Ms. Richardson.
Also in attendance were The Honorable Annette Blackwell, the mayor of Maple Heights; Reverend Dr. Todd Davidson, the senior pastor of Antioch Baptist Church; Brian Hall, the executive director of the Greater Cleveland Partnership; The Honorable Sara J. Harper, the first African American female judge appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court; Connie Hill-Johnson, board member of the Cleveland Foundation; The Honorable Ben Holbert, Mayor of Woodmere Village; and Felton Thomas, Jr., Executive Director of the Cleveland Public Library; among many more.
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Billy Glunz, Regional Director, State and Local Government Affairs at American Airlines--The HistoryMakers' official airline carrier.
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Case Western Reserve University:
The First Subscribing Institution in Cleveland
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Case Western Reserve University’s Vice President of Inclusion, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity Dr. Marilyn Sanders Mobley announced that Case Western is the first university in Cleveland to license
The HistoryMakers Digital Archive
,
making it available for faculty and student classroom instruction and research. The HistoryMakers is appreciative of Case Western board member HistoryMaker
Dominic Ozanne
for introducing this resource to the Case Western community.
Dr. Mobley hosted a luncheon, where she introduced the resource to the library staff and faculty. She also gave a tour of Case Western's Trailblazer Project (below), which included portraits of Case Western alums and HistoryMakers
The Honorable
Louis Stokes
,
Robert P. Madison
, and
The Honorable Dr. David Satcher
.
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Julieanna Richardson and The HistoryMakers' Travel and Producing Coordinator Courtney Shareef were given a tour by Western Reserve Historical Society librarian Ann Sindelar, who showed them the former congressional office of Congressman
The Honorable Louis Stokes
(HistoryMaker).
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CEO Kelly Falcone-Hall and Vice President Lisa Leaman later stopped by and introduced themselves. We look forward to continuing today's discussion of possible partnerships and future collaborations!
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QUOTES FROM THE ARCHIVE:
Remembering Mayor William E. Ward
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HistoryMaker
William E. Ward
, the first and only African American and longest serving mayor of Chesapeake, Virginia, passed away Tuesday at the age of 84 years old.
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In his interview with The HistoryMakers in 2010, Mayor Ward was asked about the achievements of his mayoral tenure. He responded:
"It was certainly the ability to attract some fifty some international and national businesses to Chesapeake. We had the largest number of international businesses in the City of Chesapeake, about fifteen countries with some fifty or more international businesses; a large number of Japanese businesses, European businesses in Chesapeake. I always said my mission or my goal was to build a city. Well, we in part did that and it’s, I think, the jewel of Hampton Roads. It’s a thriving city, it’s a prosperous city; $140 million, I’m not a part of the $140 million in reserves, but I mean, I helped to build a foundation for what the subsequent councils have been able to maintain and to continue. We have a AAA bond rating that we were able to establish; we have a great school system, forty thousand kids in our public schools. People moved to Chesapeake because of the quality of life, job opportunities, safe community and tremendous educational system, so a well managed system, a securer system, a city that’s livable. We won many national awards because of this. So, that’s a part of my legacy I’m proud of."
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[The Honorable William E. Ward, THMDA 1.5.4]
.
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Scholarly Reviews of
The HistoryMakers Digital Archive
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"Students and undergraduates in a wide range of liberal arts fields, and more advanced scholars too, will find the full-featured version of
The HistoryMakers Digital Archive
very useful in researching African Americans' lives and experiences...Summing Up: Highly recommended."
-
Internet Resources
: February Edition,
Choice
, February 1, 2018
The HistoryMakers Digital Archive
"is elegant and efficient," and "if you enjoy using a scalpel when researching, this site can quickly carve out the content you need."
-Timothy Eric, "Making History of History Itself" in
Continuum: The Journal of African Diaspora Drama, Theatre and Performance
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Please share with us your stories of how you incorporate The HistoryMakers Digital Archive into your curriculum and research. We'd love to hear from you!
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NEW CONTENT IN
THE HISTORYMAKERS DIGITAL ARCHIVE
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This week,
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new interviews were added to The HistoryMakers Digital Archive.
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James Poyser
Songwriter, producer, and musician James Poyser (1967 - ) was co-founder of the Axis Music Group and founding member of the musical collective Soulquarians. Poyser was also a regular member of The Roots, and joined them as the houseband for NBC's
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
.
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Daryl Waters
Music composer and arranger Daryl Waters (1956 - ) orchestrated such productions as
Jelly’s Last Jam
(1993),
Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk
(1995),
Memphis
(2009), and
Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed
(2016).
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Paulette Brown
Lawyer Paulette Brown (1951 - ) was a partner at Locke Lord LLP, and the first woman of color elected President of the American Bar Association.
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1. BANNER PHOTO:
Painting: 'The Death of Major Peirson, 6 January 1781' by John Singleton Copley. Accessed July 12, 2018.
2. Adrienne Lucas Sehatzadeh, “A Retrospective on the Strengths of African Nova Scotian Communities: Closing Ranks to Survive,”
Journal of Black Studies
38, no. 3 (January 2008): 407-412.
3. Melvin Miller (The HistoryMakers A2013.162), interviewed by Larry Crowe, April 24, 2013, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 4, Melvin Miller describes his family connection to the black loyalist colony in Nova Scotia, Canada.
4. Donald George (The HistoryMakers A2010.007), interviewed by Larry Crowe, April 30, 2010, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 2, Donald George describes the history of Sierra Leone, pt. 2.
5. The Honorable Melvin King (The HistoryMakers A2005.257), interviewed by Robert Hayden, December 8, 2005, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 8, The Honorable Melvin King remembers his mother's cooking.
7. Paula McClain (The HistoryMakers A2012.069), interviewed by Larry Crowe, February 22, 2012, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 4, story 5, Paula McClain talks about the black community in Canada.
8. Paula McClain (The HistoryMakers A2012.069), interviewed by Larry Crowe, February 22, 2012, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Sess
ion 1, tape 4, story 4, Paula McClain describes her master's thesis.
9. Paula Denice McClain,
Alienation and Resistance: The Political Behavior of Afro-Canadians
. R&E Research Associates, 1979.
10. IMAGE: Photograph of Mayor William E. Ward. Accessed July 13, 2018.
11. The Honorable William E. Ward (The HistoryMakers A2010.014), interviewed by Larry Crowe, May 12, 2010, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 5, story 4, The Honorable William E. Ward reflects upon his tenure as mayor of Chesapeake, Virginia, pt. 1.
12.
"Internet Resources:
February Edition,"
Choice,
February 1, 2018. Accessed July 13, 2018. http://choice360.org/blog/internet-resources-february.
13. Timothy Eric, "Making History of History Itself,"
Continuum: The Journal of African Diaspora Drama, Theatre and Performance
4, no. 2 (December 2017): http://continuumjournal.org/.
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The HistoryMakers Digital Archive
? We want to fix it! Send a brief description of the error to:
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