Black Nova Scotians
Encyclopedia
Black Nova Scotians are people of Black
African
descent whose ancestors fled Colonial America
as slaves or freemen
to settle in Nova Scotia
, Canada
during the 18th and 19th centuries. According to the 2006 Census
of Canada, there are 19,230 black people currently living in Nova Scotia, most of whom live in Halifax. The community is served by the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia
.
. He arrived in Nova Scotia sometime between 1603 and 1608 as a translator for the French
explorer Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts
. The first known black person to live in Canada was a slave from Madagascar named Olivier Le Jeune
(who may also have been of partial Malay ancestry).
s pursuing better economic
conditions. Many black Canadians today are of Caribbean
origin, with some of recent African origin and smaller numbers from Latin America
n countries. However, a sizable number of Black Canadians who descended from freed American slaves can be found in Nova Scotia and parts of Southwestern Ontario
.
Some of the settlements include: East Preston
, Cherrybrook
, Lincolnville
, Upper Big Tracadie
, Uniacke Square
, North Preston
, Mulgrave Park
, Tracadie
, Shelburne
, Beechville
and several others.
, many being relocated in the British colony of Nova Scotia, Canada. Following Dunmore's Proclamation
, the British authorities in American colonies promised freedom to the former slaves of the rebelling Americans, who escaped and made their way into British lines. Large numbers of enslaved colonial African American
s took advantage of this opportunity to obtain their freedom and they made their way over to the British side, as did a much smaller number of free African Americans. Many of the Black Loyalists performed military service in the British Army, and others served non-military roles. Approximately three thousand Black Loyalists sailed to Nova Scotia between April and November of 1783, travelling on both Navy
vessels and British chartered private transports.
Black people arrived in Canada in several waves. The first of these came with the French as free persons serving in the French army
and navy
, and some were enslaved. The British
colonial
authorities promised land grants to those who had escaped to the Crown
during the American Revolution
, though more promises were broken than kept. White American
Loyalists
fled north, bringing their African American slaves with them, while free African Americans also made their way to the colonies of British North America
, settling predominantly in Nova Scotia. This latter group was largely made up of tradespeople and labourer
s, and many set up home in Birchtown
in southwestern Nova Scotia. Many of these African Americans had roots mainly in American states like Virginia
, South Carolina
, Georgia
and Maryland
. Some came from Massachusetts
, New Jersey
and New York
as well.
In 1782, the first race riot
in North America
took place in Birchtown, with white soldiers attacking the black settlers who were getting work that the soldiers thought they should have. Due to the unkept promises of the British government and the discrimination from the white colonists, 1,192 African American men, women and children left Nova Scotia
on January 15, 1792 and established Freetown, Sierra Leone.
In 1796, approximately 600 Maroons
were shipped from Jamaica to Nova Scotia, after their uprising against the British colonial government. They aided the British on the third defence at the Citadel in Halifax and on Government House, and performed other manual labour. The Maroons also attempted to farm by occupying infertile land. Like the former tenants that were poor, they occupied horrible and unproductive land at Preston
; as a result they had minor success. A reason the Maroons found farming in Nova Scotia difficult is because the climate would not allow their customary food crops such as bananas, yams
, pineapples or cocoa to grow. Small numbers of Maroons relocated from Preston to Boydville for better farming land. The British Lieutenant Governor Sir John Wentworth
made an effort to change the Maroons’ culture and beliefs by introducing them to Christianity
. The Maroons were not interested in converting from their own religion to Christianity. They were very strong, opinionated people, and would not work for less money than an average white person. In 1800 most of the Maroons took advantage of the opportunity to emigrate to Sierra Leone.
s from the United States
settled in many parts of Nova Scotia including Hammonds Plains, Beechville
, Lucasville
and Africville.
Canada was not suited to the large-scale plantation
agriculture
practised in the southern United States, and slavery became increasingly rare. In 1793, in one of the first acts of the new Upper Canada
colonial parliament
, slavery was abolished. It was all but abolished throughout the other British North American colonies by 1800, and was illegal throughout the British Empire
after 1834. This made Canada an attractive destination for those fleeing slavery in the United States, such as American
minister Boston King
.
In the late nineteenth century, there was an unofficial policy of restricting blacks from immigrating
to Canada, and in the 1920s, formal racially-based immigration standards excluding blacks were developed. The huge influx of immigrants from Europe
and the United States in the period before World War I
included only very small numbers of black arrivals.
Another wave of immigration to Nova Scotia occurred in the 1920s, with blacks from the Caribbean
coming to work in the steel mills of Cape Breton Island
. The restrictions on immigration remained until 1962, when racial rules were eliminated from the immigration laws. This coincided with the dissolution of the British Empire in the Caribbean, and over the next decades several hundred thousand blacks came from that region to Canada.
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
African
African people
African people refers to natives, inhabitants, or citizen of Africa and to people of African descent.-Etymology:Many etymological hypotheses that have been postulated for the ancient name "Africa":...
descent whose ancestors fled Colonial America
Colonial America
The colonial history of the United States covers the history from the start of European settlement and especially the history of the thirteen colonies of Britain until they declared independence in 1776. In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands launched major...
as slaves or freemen
Freeman (Colonial)
Freeman is a term which originated in 12th century Europe and is common as an English or American Colonial expression in Puritan times. In the Bay Colony, a man had to be a member of the Church to be a freeman. In Colonial Plymouth, a man did not need to be a member of the Church, but he had to be...
to settle in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
during the 18th and 19th centuries. According to the 2006 Census
Canada 2006 Census
The Canada 2006 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 16, 2006. The next census following will be the 2011 Census. Canada's total population enumerated by the 2006 census was 31,612,897...
of Canada, there are 19,230 black people currently living in Nova Scotia, most of whom live in Halifax. The community is served by the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia
Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia
The Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia is located in Cherrybrook, Nova Scotia near Halifax. The Centre serves as a museum and a library resource center for the African Nova Scotian community and the Black Canadian community as a whole. The organization of the Black Cultural Society was...
.
First black person in Canada
The first recorded instance of a black presence in Canada was that of Mathieu de CostaMathieu de Costa
Mathieu de Costa is the first recorded black person in Canada. He was a member of the exploring party of Pierre Dugua, the Sieur de Monts and Samuel de Champlain in the early 17th century....
. He arrived in Nova Scotia sometime between 1603 and 1608 as a translator for the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
explorer Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts
Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts
Pierre Du Gua de Monts, was a French merchant, explorer and colonizer. A Protestant, he was born in Royan, France and had a great influence over the first two decades of the 17th century...
. The first known black person to live in Canada was a slave from Madagascar named Olivier Le Jeune
Olivier Le Jeune
Olivier Le Jeune was the first recorded slave purchased in New France.Olivier was a young boy from Madagascar, believed to have been less than eight years of age when he was brought to the outpost of Quebec in New France, by British commander David Kirke when he captured the colony in 1629...
(who may also have been of partial Malay ancestry).
Immigrants from Africa
An increasing number of immigrants from Africa have been coming to Canada, as is also the case in the United States and Europe. This includes large numbers of refugees, but also many skilled workerSkilled worker
A skilled worker is any worker who has some special skill, knowledge, or ability in their work. A skilled worker may have attended a college, university or technical school. Or, a skilled worker may have learned their skills on the job...
s pursuing better economic
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
conditions. Many black Canadians today are of Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
origin, with some of recent African origin and smaller numbers from Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n countries. However, a sizable number of Black Canadians who descended from freed American slaves can be found in Nova Scotia and parts of Southwestern Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
.
Settlements
As racism was rampant when the first groups of black people came to Nova Scotia, many all-black communities, villages and towns were set up. Most of these communities were located in a rural setting, and were usually very independent until the 1960s when some inner-city neighbourhoods were set up, starting with the demolition of Africville.Some of the settlements include: East Preston
East Preston, Nova Scotia
East Preston is an expansive rural area located in eastern Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, in Atlantic Canada.East Preston was founded in the 19th century. It is believed to have been named after Preston, Lancashire, England or Thomas Preston, a British army officer involved in the...
, Cherrybrook
Cherrybrook, Nova Scotia
Cherrybrook is predominantly a Black community located to the north of Trunk 7 between Lake Loon and Lake Major, and just a few miles east of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia....
, Lincolnville
Lincolnville, Nova Scotia
Lincolnville is a small community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Municipality of the District of Guysborough in Guysborough County. Lincolnville is a predominantly African Canadian community situated next to Upper Big Tracadie. The community is served by the Lincolnville...
, Upper Big Tracadie
Upper Big Tracadie, Nova Scotia
Upper Big Tracadie is a small community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Antigonish County. It is a rural, predominantly African Canadian community. The community is served by a community center and church, Tracadie United Baptist Church...
, Uniacke Square
Uniacke Square
Uniacke Square is a public housing residential area in the north central area of Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is flanked in the northeast by Brunswick Street, the southwest by Gottingen Street....
, North Preston
North Preston, Nova Scotia
North Preston is a rural community in eastern Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, in Canada. North Preston has a population of about 3,700 people. The community is populated mainly by African Canadians. The community borders its sister community East Preston. The community traces its...
, Mulgrave Park
Mulgrave Park, Nova Scotia
Mulgrave Park is a residential neighbourhood in Halifax in the North End within the Halifax Regional Municipality Nova Scotia . It consists of local public housing along Barrington Street. It is also referred to as MGP by most residents.-References:*...
, Tracadie
Tracadie, Nova Scotia
Tracadie is a small community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Antigonish County. Tracadie has close links with nearby Upper Big Tracadie. Tracadie was settled by Black loyalists in the early 18th century.-References:**...
, Shelburne
Shelburne, Nova Scotia
Shelburne is a town located in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. It is the shire town of Shelburne County.-History:-Settlers:...
, Beechville
Beechville, Nova Scotia
Beechville is a community within the Halifax Regional Municipality of Nova Scotia, Canada, on the St. Margaret's Bay Road . The Beechville Lakeville Timberlea trail starts here near Lovett Lake, following the line of the old Halifax and Southwestern Railway.-History:Many of the first arrivals were...
and several others.
Colonial African American refugees from the American Revolution
The end of the American War of Independence led the Black Loyalists to flee what was becoming the United States of AmericaUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, many being relocated in the British colony of Nova Scotia, Canada. Following Dunmore's Proclamation
Dunmore's Proclamation
Dunmore's Proclamation is a historical document issued on November 7, 1775, by John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, royal governor of the British Colony of Virginia...
, the British authorities in American colonies promised freedom to the former slaves of the rebelling Americans, who escaped and made their way into British lines. Large numbers of enslaved colonial African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s took advantage of this opportunity to obtain their freedom and they made their way over to the British side, as did a much smaller number of free African Americans. Many of the Black Loyalists performed military service in the British Army, and others served non-military roles. Approximately three thousand Black Loyalists sailed to Nova Scotia between April and November of 1783, travelling on both Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
vessels and British chartered private transports.
Black people arrived in Canada in several waves. The first of these came with the French as free persons serving in the French army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
and navy
Navy
A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
, and some were enslaved. The British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
authorities promised land grants to those who had escaped to the Crown
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
during the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, though more promises were broken than kept. White American
White American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
Loyalists
United Empire Loyalists
The name United Empire Loyalists is an honorific given after the fact to those American Loyalists who resettled in British North America and other British Colonies as an act of fealty to King George III after the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War and prior to the Treaty of Paris...
fled north, bringing their African American slaves with them, while free African Americans also made their way to the colonies of British North America
British North America
British North America is a historical term. It consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783.At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1775 the British...
, settling predominantly in Nova Scotia. This latter group was largely made up of tradespeople and labourer
Manual labour
Manual labour , manual or manual work is physical work done by people, most especially in contrast to that done by machines, and also to that done by working animals...
s, and many set up home in Birchtown
Birchtown, Nova Scotia
Birchtown is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located near Shelburne in the Barrington Municipal District of Shelburne County. Founded in 1783, it is famous as the largest settlement of Black Loyalists and was the largest free settlement of Africans in North America in the 18th...
in southwestern Nova Scotia. Many of these African Americans had roots mainly in American states like Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
and Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. Some came from Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
as well.
In 1782, the first race riot
Race riot
A race riot or racial riot is an outbreak of violent civil disorder in which race is a key factor. A phenomenon frequently confused with the concept of 'race riot' is sectarian violence, which involves public mass violence or conflict over non-racial factors.-United States:The term had entered the...
in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
took place in Birchtown, with white soldiers attacking the black settlers who were getting work that the soldiers thought they should have. Due to the unkept promises of the British government and the discrimination from the white colonists, 1,192 African American men, women and children left Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
on January 15, 1792 and established Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Maroons and emigration to Sierra Leone
Maroon (people)
Maroons were runaway slaves in the West Indies, Central America, South America, and North America, who formed independent settlements together...
were shipped from Jamaica to Nova Scotia, after their uprising against the British colonial government. They aided the British on the third defence at the Citadel in Halifax and on Government House, and performed other manual labour. The Maroons also attempted to farm by occupying infertile land. Like the former tenants that were poor, they occupied horrible and unproductive land at Preston
Preston, Nova Scotia
Preston is an area in central Nova Scotia, Canada in the Halifax Regional Municipality, located on Trunk 7. The population in 2006 was 2,360 including East Preston and North Preston....
; as a result they had minor success. A reason the Maroons found farming in Nova Scotia difficult is because the climate would not allow their customary food crops such as bananas, yams
Yam (vegetable)
Yam is the common name for some species in the genus Dioscorea . These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania...
, pineapples or cocoa to grow. Small numbers of Maroons relocated from Preston to Boydville for better farming land. The British Lieutenant Governor Sir John Wentworth
John Wentworth (governor)
Sir John Wentworth, 1st Baronet was the British colonial governor of New Hampshire at the time of the American Revolution. He was later also Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia.-Early life:...
made an effort to change the Maroons’ culture and beliefs by introducing them to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. The Maroons were not interested in converting from their own religion to Christianity. They were very strong, opinionated people, and would not work for less money than an average white person. In 1800 most of the Maroons took advantage of the opportunity to emigrate to Sierra Leone.
African American refugees
The next major migration of blacks into Nova Scotia occurred between 1813 and 1815. Black war refugeeRefugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
settled in many parts of Nova Scotia including Hammonds Plains, Beechville
Beechville, Nova Scotia
Beechville is a community within the Halifax Regional Municipality of Nova Scotia, Canada, on the St. Margaret's Bay Road . The Beechville Lakeville Timberlea trail starts here near Lovett Lake, following the line of the old Halifax and Southwestern Railway.-History:Many of the first arrivals were...
, Lucasville
Lucasville, Nova Scotia
Lucasville is a community of the Halifax Regional Municipality in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia....
and Africville.
Canada was not suited to the large-scale plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
practised in the southern United States, and slavery became increasingly rare. In 1793, in one of the first acts of the new Upper Canada
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
colonial parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
, slavery was abolished. It was all but abolished throughout the other British North American colonies by 1800, and was illegal throughout the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
after 1834. This made Canada an attractive destination for those fleeing slavery in the United States, such as American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
minister Boston King
Boston King
Boston King was a former American slave and Black Loyalist, who gained freedom from the British and settled in Nova Scotia after the American Revolutionary War...
.
20th century immigrants from the Caribbean and United States
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
to Canada, and in the 1920s, formal racially-based immigration standards excluding blacks were developed. The huge influx of immigrants from Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the United States in the period before World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
included only very small numbers of black arrivals.
Another wave of immigration to Nova Scotia occurred in the 1920s, with blacks from the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
coming to work in the steel mills of Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
. The restrictions on immigration remained until 1962, when racial rules were eliminated from the immigration laws. This coincided with the dissolution of the British Empire in the Caribbean, and over the next decades several hundred thousand blacks came from that region to Canada.
Notable Black Nova Scotians
- Wayne AdamsWayne AdamsWayne Adams, CM ONS is a former Canadian provincial politician who was the first Black Canadian member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly and cabinet minister....
, politician - Gary BealsGary BealsGary Beals is a Canadian singer who is best known for being the second-place finisher in the first season of the reality television series Canadian Idol...
, R&B musician - George Elliott ClarkeGeorge Elliott ClarkeGeorge Elliott Clarke, OC is a Canadian poet and playwright. His work largely explores and chronicles the experience and history of the Black Canadian community of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, creating a cultural geography that Clarke refers to as "Africadia".-Life:Born to William and Geraldine...
, poet and playwright - George DixonGeorge Dixon (boxer)George Dixon was the first black world boxing champion in any weight class, while also being the first ever Canadian-born boxing champion.George was born in Africville, Halifax, Nova Scotia...
, professional boxer - Mayann Francis, politician
- William Hall, Victoria Cross laureate
- Kirk Johnson, professional boxer
- Rocky JohnsonRocky JohnsonRocky Johnson is a retired Canadian professional wrestler. Quite popular in his own right in the 1970s and 1980s, he is also known for being the father of actor and professional wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson...
, professional wrestler, father of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson - Burnley "Rocky" JonesBurnley "Rocky" JonesBurnley Allan "Rocky" Jones is an internationally known political activist in the areas of human rights, race and poverty. He rose to prominence first as a member of the Students Union for Peace Action during the 1960s and later as a successful lawyer.-Family:Born to Elmer and Willena Jones in...
, political activist - Faith NolanFaith NolanFaith Nolan is a Canadian social activist folk and jazz singer-songwriter and guitarist of mixed African, Mi'kmaq and Irish heritage...
, folk and jazz musician - Donald OliverDonald OliverDonald H. Oliver, QC is a Canadian Senator.A lawyer and developer, Oliver is a member of Nova Scotia's Black minority. He is the nephew of Canadian opera singer Portia White, politician Bill White and labour union activist Jack White, and the cousin of political strategist Sheila White...
, politician - Bill RileyBill RileyWilliam James "Bill" Riley is a retired Canadian ice hockey player, and was the third black player in the National Hockey League....
, professional hockey player - Bill WhiteBill White (Canadian politician)William Andrew White, III, OC was a Canadian composer and social justice activist, who was the first Black Canadian to run for federal office in Canada.-1949 federal election:...
, politician - Portia WhitePortia WhitePortia May White , was a singer who achieved international fame because of her voice and stage presence. As a Black Canadian, her popularity helped to open previously closed doors for talented blacks who followed....
, opera musician - Tyrone WilliamsTyrone Williams (wide receiver)Tyrone Williams is a retired wide receiver who played in the National Football League as well as the Canadian Football League. He won two Super Bowl rings as a member of the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XXVII and Super Bowl XXVIII, though he did not participate in either game...
, professional football player
See also
- Book of NegroesBook of NegroesThe Book of Negroes is an important historical document which records names and descriptions of 3,000 African-American slaves who escaped to the British lines during the American Revolution and were evacuated by the British by ship to points in Nova Scotia as freedmen.-Background:African Americans...
- Poor Boy's GamePoor Boy's GamePoor Boy's Game is a Canadian feature film directed by Clement Virgo. Co-written with Nova Scotian writer/director Chaz Thorne , it is the story of class struggle, racial tensions and boxing, set in the Canadian east coast port city of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The film premiered on February 11, 2007,...
- Speak It! From the Heart of Black Nova ScotiaSpeak It! From the Heart of Black Nova ScotiaSpeak It! From the Heart of Black Nova Scotia is a 1992 documentary film by Sylvia Hamilton, focusing on a group of Black Nova Scotian students in a predominantly white high school in Halifax, Nova Scotia who face daily reminders of racism...
- Black United FrontBlack United FrontBlack United Front also known as The Black United Front of Nova Scotia or simply BUF was a Black nationalist organization primarily based in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the Civil Rights era. The organization was founded by Burnley "Rocky" Jones in 1965 loosely based on the 10 point program of the...
- Black Cultural Centre for Nova ScotiaBlack Cultural Centre for Nova ScotiaThe Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia is located in Cherrybrook, Nova Scotia near Halifax. The Centre serves as a museum and a library resource center for the African Nova Scotian community and the Black Canadian community as a whole. The organization of the Black Cultural Society was...