Little Africa Plaque (Early Black Community on Hamilton Mountain) (CS10032) (Ward 6) (Outstanding Business List Item “A”)
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TO: Chair and Members WARD(S) AFFECTED: WARD 6 Emergency & Community Services Committee COMMITTEE DATE: April 7, 2010 SUBJECT/REPORT NO: Little Africa Plaque (Early Black Community on Hamilton Mountain) (CS10032) (Ward 6) (Outstanding Business List Item “A”) SUBMITTED BY: PREPARED BY: Joe-Anne Priel I.A. Kerr-Wilson 905-546-2424 Ext. 1747 General Manager, Anna M. Bradford 905-546-2424 Ext. 3967 Community Services SIGNATURE: Council Direction: At its meeting of October 11, 2006, Council referred Item 2 of the Community Services Committee Report 06-009 back to the Hamilton Historical Board’s Joint Plaquing Sub- committee to allow for further consultation with the Black History Committee, the African Workers’ Project Committee and other Historians of African descent, respecting the Little Africa plaque, for a report back to the Emergency & Community Services Committee”. Information: In 2004, the Joint Plaquing Sub-committee submitted a number of commemorative plaque suggestions to the Community Services Committee for approval. The recommendation of a commemorative plaque about an early black community on the mountain known as “Little Africa” was approved. This approval directed the members of the Joint Plaquing Sub-committee to begin research and submit suggested wording for the commemorative plaque and report back to the Emergency & Community Services Committee for consideration. The Hamilton Spectator, the Hamilton Mountain News, View Magazine and CATCH UPDATE all wrote articles about the upcoming “Little Africa” plaque. In addition, radio interviews were conducted with staff as to the process for developing the wording for the plaque. Staff also received telephone calls from the public about the plaque primarily asking the date of the plaque unveiling. In response to this media coverage, Lincoln Alexander, Chair of the Ontario Heritage Trust (OHT), expressed a desire to assist and committed funding for the plaque. Vision: To be the best place in Canada to raise a child, promote innovation, engage citizens and provide diverse economic opportunities. Values: Honesty, Accountability, Innovation, Leadership, Respect, Excellence, Teamwork SUBJECT: Little Africa Plaque (Early Black Community on Hamilton Mountain) (CS10032) (Ward 6) – Page 2 of 5 Attached as Appendix A to Report CS10032 is a list of the research sources used to determine the commemorative plaque wording. In addition, members of the Joint Plaquing Sub-committee conferred with Anita Tolliver, Archivist, Stewart Memorial Church (founded c. 1835 as St. Paul’s African Methodist Episcopal Church, Stewart Memorial Church represents the longest surviving predominantly Black congregation within the City of Hamilton), Anne Jarvis, Volunteer Coordinator and Programmer, Griffin House and Hamilton Representative – Black History Network (Provincial) and Wayne Kelly, Plaque Program Coordinator, Ontario Heritage Trust. As per the process for approving commemorative plaques, the Joint Plaguing Sub- committee presented the wording of the “Little Africa” plaque to the Hamilton Historical Board and the Municipal Heritage Committee for approval. Approval was received from both the Sub-committees and the Board. In addition, the Joint Plaquing Sub-committee sent the wording to staff at the OHT. The OHT approved the wording in October 2006. On October 10, 2006 the Joint Plaquing Sub-committee presented the wording for the “Little Africa” plaque to the Community Services Committee. The original words of the plaque and research sources are attached as Appendix B to Report CS10032. The Community Services Committee approved the wording for the “Little Africa” plaque. After Community Services approval, however, some concerns were expressed to the City Manager about the level of consultation with the local Black community and therefore at the Council meeting on October 11, 2006 staff was directed to hold further consultations with the Black History Committee, the African Workers’ Project Committee and other Historians of African descent respecting the Little Africa plaque. Staff worked with Dr. Gary Warner, a professor at McMaster University and a well respected Black community leader, to develop a further review committee, as directed by Council. Dr. Warner suggested the following individuals: • Black History Committee – Co-Chair, Evelyn Myrie • African Canadian Workers’ Project - Adrienne Shadd, Curator • Historians of African descent, - Rosemary Sadlier, Ontario Black History Society and Evelyn Auchinvole, Stewart Memorial Church. Reviewer packages, attached as Appendix C to Report CS10032, were developed and sent to the above individuals for review and comment. The packages contained the plaque wording and all research sources. Staff and the reviewers agreed that if consensus was not met, the plaque would not go forward as written. Adrienne Shadd provided staff with four minor changes to the original text. Rationale for the changes attached as Appendix D to Report CS10032. In brief, the changes were as follows: Vision: To be the best place in Canada to raise a child, promote innovation, engage citizens and provide diverse economic opportunities. Values: Honest, Accountability, Innovation, Leadership, Respect, Excellence, Teamwork SUBJECT: Little Africa Plaque (Early Black Community on Hamilton Mountain) (CS10032) (Ward 6) – Page 3 of 5 1. Original sentence - During the 19th century, Canada was a refuge for people seeking freedom from slavery. Revised sentence - During the 19th century, Canada was a refuge for people seeking freedom from slavery and oppression. 2. Original sentence - Escaping slaves came to Hamilton from the United States, by the Underground Railroad. Revised sentence - Escaped slaves and free Blacks came to Hamilton, some by way of the Underground Railroad. 3. Original sentence - The winters were harsh and with the difficulty of finding full- time work, many abandoned the colony and resettled elsewhere. Revised sentence - The difficulty of finding full-time work meant that many abandoned the colony and resettled elsewhere. 4. Original sentence - Many of those that remained adopted new surnames to avoid tracking and recapture. Revised sentence - The families that remained were named Johnson, Nelson, Banks, Atkins, Carey, Murdoch, Green and Berry. The revised text was sent to the reviewers with agreement received from Evelyn Myrie, and Adrienne Shadd. Evelyn Auchinvole did respond, but did not actually confirm agreement with the proposed revisions. Rosemary Sadlier did not respond to repeated attempts to receive her comments. Although some agreement appeared to be reached, staff was not comfortable that true consensus was achieved. The Review Committee agreed that in order to tell the complete story of the early Black community, significant historical research was required beyond any known research done to-date. A number of important questions could not be answered with the available known data, such as: • What were the actual boundaries of the Black communities on the Mountain? • Who lived there? • Did they purchase or were they given land? • Did they farm the land? • What happened to the community? In 2008, staff contracted Adrienne Shadd, a highly respected local authority on Black History and Curator of the African Canadian Workers’ Project, to conduct this research on “Little Africa”. Ms. Shadd completed her research and submitted a paper “Little Africa: Where Do We Go From Here?” (attached as Appendix E to Report CS10032). Vision: To be the best place in Canada to raise a child, promote innovation, engage citizens and provide diverse economic opportunities. Values: Honest, Accountability, Innovation, Leadership, Respect, Excellence, Teamwork SUBJECT: Little Africa Plaque (Early Black Community on Hamilton Mountain) (CS10032) (Ward 6) – Page 4 of 5 The most interesting conclusion of her report was that all previous sources of information regarding “Little Africa”, including Daniel Hill’s authoritative book on early Black history in Canada, The Freedom Seekers,1 were based on the reminiscences of Mabel Burkholder. Burkholder authored a book titled Barton on the Mountain (1956), which stated that a community of Blacks was established on Hamilton Mountain through the generosity of William Bridge Green, who donated land free of charge to destitute fugitive slaves who had no where to go and who had recently escaped from slavery in the American South. She claimed that the community was known as “Little Africa,” and that ultimately, the community disappeared because the winters proved to be too cold for these “children of the sun”.2 It also appears that the reference to the community name being “Little Africa” did not occur until the 1930’s.3 To review and comment on this research paper a larger community group was formed. This group included the original members suggested by Dr. Warner, as well as Vince Morgan, Stewart Memorial Church, as a replacement for the late Anita Tolliver; Doctor Bonny Ibhawoh, Director, Centre for Peace Studies and Associate Professor in the Department of History, McMaster University; and, Tracy Warren, a McMaster Black history doctoral research student. In addition to the community group, Ian Kerr-Wilson, Manager of Museums and Heritage Presentation and Anna M. Bradford, Director of Culture, contributed as technical staff. The group reviewed Ms. Shadd’s paper and, although robust in content, agreed that further study on the early black community on the Mountain was still warranted. The community committee recommended that the additional research