Black History Month
Prominate Black Canadians Through History
Rosemary Brown was a Canadian politician who was born in Jamaica. She served as a member of British Columbia's legislative assembly for 14 years and was a candidate for the federal party's leadership in 1974.
Brown died in 2003. She was 72.
Viola Davis Desmond was at the centre of one of Nova Scotia's most controversial episodes. In 1946, she refused to sit in the balcony of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, N.S. and sat on the floor reserved exclusively for white people instead. She was arrested and found guilty of not paying the full tax on a floor-seat ticket. She was jailed and fined.
She died in 1965 at the age of 50. In 2010, the government of Nova Scotia posthumously pardoned Desmond and apologized to her family.
Mifflin Wistar Gibbs was already a successful businessman when he moved from the United States to British Columbia to escape the racial atmosphere in the United States. After moving to Victoria, Gibbs became a prominent figure in the black community (its 'recognized leader,' according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada). He devoted time and effort to encouraging members of the black community to become involved in politics. He moved back to the United States in 1870 and died in 1915.
Ferguson (Fergie) Arthur Jenkins is one of Canada's most celebrated baseball players. Jenkins, who played for the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs, was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.
Ferguson (Fergie) Arthur Jenkins is one of Canada's most celebrated baseball players. Jenkins, who played for the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs, was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.
John Ware was a former slave who settled in Alberta and gained recognition for his skill as a cowboy. He established two ranches before his death in 1905.
Nova Scotia's Carrie Best was a poet, writer, journalist and activist. She founded The Clarion, the province's first black-owned and published newspaper in Nova Scotia in 1946 and in 1952 she began hosting The Quiet Corner radio program which would run for 12 years. Best was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1979. She died in 2001.
