The following are short descriptions of individuals, places and events which have contributed to the shaping of African American history. These encyclopedia entries serve as a starting point for much more inclusive descriptions and discussions that appear in other sources. For additional information please consult the print or website sources cited in the entry.
Seraphim “Joe” Fortes was born in Barbados, West Indies. He was a seaman and came to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1885. There he worked as a barman at the Sunnyside Hotel. English Bay became his favourite spot as he loved the water and was … Read MoreSeraphim “Joe” Fortes (1865-1922)
John Sella Martin was born into slavery in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was carried to Georgia and escaped from there to the North in 1856. Martin lived successively in Chicago, Detroit and Buffalo, where by that point he was a minister and led a church … Read More(1867) John Sella Martin, A Speech Before the Paris Antislavery Conference
Mary Ann Shadd (1823-1893) was born into an affluent free black family in Wilmington, Delaware. Nonetheless after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, Shadd joined thousands of other African Americans in emigrating to Canada. She briefly taught the children of the emigrants … Read More(1858) Mary Ann Shadd, “Break Every Yoke and Let The Oppressed Go Free”
By the 1840s a number of fugitive slaves, the most prominent being Frederick Douglass, took to the lecture circuit usually appearing before abolitionist societies where they told their personal stories of bondage. The speech of Lewis Richardson, however, attracted particular attention because he had escaped … Read More(1846) Lewis Richardson, “I am Free From American Slavery” 1846
In November 1841 Charles Lenox Remond, while still on his European tour, gave a speech before the Hibernian Antislavery Society in Dublin. That oration, published in the Liberator, appears below. In rising to make some remarks on the great cause which has brought us together, … Read More(1841) Charles Lenox Remond, “Slavery and the Irish”
Charles Lenox Remond (1810-1878), was one of the earliest black abolitionist speakers. Born in Salem, Massachusetts to free black parents, John and Nancy Remond, Charles became an agent of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in 1838 and traveled with William Lloyd Garrison to the World Anti-Slavery … Read More(1841) Charles Lenox Remond, “Slavery As It Concerns The British”
In 1859, the all-white volunteer fire department of Victoria, British Columbia refused blacks in their ranks. Therefore, some blacks volunteered their services to Governor James Douglas as a militia unit. Concerns over an imminent Indian War and a dispute between Britain and the United States … Read MoreVictoria Pioneer Rifle Corps (1861-1865)
John Ware was born a slave in South Carolina circa 1845. When the Civil War ended, he decided to exercise his freedom by moving west. Ware settled in Texas and got a job with a rancher who raised horses. In 1879 Ware rode north on … Read MoreJohn Ware (1845?-1905)
Oliver Law was the first African American in history to lead an integrated American military army. Born in west Texas on October 23, 1900, from 1919 to 1925 he was a private in the U.S. 24th Infantry. He moved to Chicago where he became a … Read MoreOliver Law (1900-1937)
Social worker, politician and professional football player Emery Barnes spent much of his life helping the disadvantaged in society and working for worldwide human rights and world peace. Barnes was first elected to the British Columbia legislature in 1972 and was elected Speaker of the … Read MoreEmery Barnes (1929-1998)
