THE WOMEN OF AFRKV1U.E: Race and Gender in Postwar Halifax A thesis submitted to the Department of History in canformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Queen's University Kingston, Ontario, Canada September, 1998 copyright Q Susan MarionJean Precious, 1998 National Library Bibliothèque nationale l*l of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Weilingîon Street 395. nie Wellington OttawaON K1AûN4 OttawaûN KIAW Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, districbute or sel reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in rnicroform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/nIm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains owership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Abstract From 1964 until 1970, Afncville, the small Black community situated on the outskirts of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was relocated. Since then, the community's displacement has achieved national recognition from cross-disciplinary research and extensive media coverage. The sociological and historical accounts tell only the story of this dislocation. In doing so, they ignore the rich history and culture of the pre-relocation era, the strong presence and place of women in the community, and the undeniable cuvent of racial discrimination in Canadian society. This thesis examines three key areas of Africville women's involvement during the postwar years. First, how Africville women's participation in the local segregated schoolhouse and the Seaview African United Baptist Church contributed to the development ancCevolution of their community. Second, whether these women's paid and unpaid work indicate that postwar labour expenences were tied to a range of race, class and gender relationships. Third, how Africville women's role in the resistance to relocation was part of a province- wide movement of African Nova Scotian organization and activism. This study incorporates new postwar social historiography, and important primary sources such as oral history accounts, archival correspondence, School Board Reports, govemment and institutional documents and valuable photographs, with the existing material on Africville. With these tools, this thesis argues that in the years after the Second World War, Africville women were ..- Ill active agents in the histoncal changes affecting their community. In so doing, it makes a valuable contribution to the areas of African-Canadian, gender, postwar, and Atlantic Canadian history. Acknowledgements I would like to take this opportunity to express rny gratitude and appreciation for many people's assistance in the completion of this thesis. First, my supewisor, Dr. Gerald Tulchinsky for agreeing to oversee this project and offering me valuable suggestions along the way, particularly with my writing. Dr. Karen Dubinsky also provided much-appreciated feedback on Chapter Three. Other people at Queen's University read many versions of papers and parts of this thesis. To Scott Vokey, Dave Fewson, Sandi Ramos, and above all, Amy Bell, thank you! My roommate. Jocelyn Richard, was a willing editor and a cheerful face as well. In Nova Scotia, Dr. Sylvia Hamilton, Dr. Michael Cross, and Dr. Sharon Oliver al1 provided some helpful input. Dr. Judith Fingard , Rev. Henri Bishop, Alexa McDonough and Dr. Marylin Ferguson, in particular, generously shared mernories, ideas and considerable time from busy schedules. Senator Donald Oliver's assistance during all stages of this thesis was indispensable and sincerety appreciated. Thanks to Dianne and Jim Ferguson for taking an interest in what I am doing, and lending me a tape recorder. Above all, I would like to thank my parents. David and Elizabeth, and my brother Bruce for putting up with my self-absorption this year and being enormous sources of support and encouragement. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, thank you to the three former residents of Africville, Dr. Ruth Johnson, Linda Mantley and Brenda Steed-Ross, v who agreed to let me, a complete stranger, interview them about their mernories of their homes. I appreciate this more than you will ever know. Your integrity, strength and ability to still laugh are inspirational. Contents Abstract ................ ....... .......................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................. .iv Contents.. ............ ...... ................................................................................... ..vi . List of Figures.. ............... ................................................................................ ..VII Chapter One f ntroduction ........................................................................................................... 1 Chapter Two The Comrnunity................................................................................................ .18 Chapter Three Work .................................................................................................................. -48 Chapter Four Resistance to Relocation.................................................................................... .71 Chapter Five Conclusion......................................................................................................... ..99 Bibliography.................................................................................................... 106 Vita .................................................................................................................... 1 14 vii List of Figures Figure 1: City of Halifax, Works Department. Map of AfrÏcville, 1964 (Public Archives of Nova Scotia) Figure 2: photograph of Africville houses behind railway Iine Figure 3: photograph of Seaview African United Baptist Church in Africville Figure 4: photograph of Alan Borovoy addressing Africville residents in the Seaview Church, August 1962 Figure 5: photograph of Africville women listening to Alan Borovoy speak in their church. August 1962 Figure 6: photograph of Afdcville midwife and resistance organizer, addressing residents in church, August 1962 Figure 7: photograph of Africville woman standing to address the crowd in church, August 1962 Figure 8: photograph of another Africville woman standing to address the crowd in church, August 1962 * All photographs from the Bob Brooks Collection, reproduced courtesy of the Public Archives of Nova Scotia. Chapter One Introduction The years afier the Second World War in Canada conjure up popular images of both prosperity and emancipation. Technological innovations afforded some families a higher standard of living and more freedom than they had previously enjoyed. The surge in automobile production and ownership brought better highways and more suburban developments. while television's arriva1 in the early 1950s spread images validating the gendered assurnptions of suburban life. Yet, while many families were buying their second automobile or debating the issue of a wage-eaming mother, not al1 Canadians were preoccupied with material considerations. This stereotype of the postwar years is one firmly founded in white middle class standards and reinforced by images of popular culture.' The Iives of women from Africville, Nova Scotia, a Black community situated on the outskirts of Halifax bordering the Bedford Basin and relocated during the mid l96Os, were vastly different from this historical myth.' (See figure 1-Map of Africville) The liberation some women experienced through wartime shifts in the labour force was not felt by Afncville women, whose service sector ' For this histoty see Doug Owram, Born at the Right Time: A History of the Baby Boom Generation (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1W6), Paul Rutherford, When Television Was Young: Primetirne Canada, 1952-1967 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990) and Karal Ann Marling, As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1994). 1 use the terms Black and African-Nova Scotian in an atternpt to use the language of both the scholars from those communities and the former residents of Af ricville themselves. W hile I have encountered the tenns "Colored" and "Negro" in my research, other than in quotations, I have not used those tenns as they are now outdated and may be understood as pejorative. 3 jobs continued to be shaped by racial discrimination. Sirnilarly, the subsequent debate which transpired over wage-earning mothers was not as volatile in many Black homes, which depended heavily on wornen's pay. Nor were these women's lives defined by the conservatism and social anxiety cornmonly attributed to the postwar years. Africville women were agents of activism and organization through their involvement in the community, church, work and the resistance to relocation. They walked several miles to work in the moming, attended parent-teacher meetings regarding their