Visit to UNIA Museum in Glace Bay

UNIA Hall (Glace Bay, Cape Breton)

While in Cape Breton, conducting community outreach events (September 29th), the Black Cultural Centre Staff and I had the opportunity to meet with the organizers of the UNIA Museum in Glace Bay.

BCC Staff with UNIA Museum Representatives
(l-r) Ben Thomas - BCC, Chantel Reid-Demeter - ANSA, Theresa Brewster - UNIA, Rielle Williams - BCC 

This museum tells the important story of of the African Nova Scotian Community in Glace Bay and their connection to the steel industry in Cape Breton.  The Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) Museum has a strong history. The hall was built in 1918 as part of a movement started in 1914 by leader and activist Marcus Garvey. Garvey, originally from Jamaica, became an internationally known promoter of social, political, and economic freedom for the Black community. In 1914 Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Jamaica. Soon associations were established throughout the United States and Canada. 

Early in its existence the hall served as a hotel for workers who came from the West Indies to work at a near-by coal mine. Unable to afford a home of their own, as miners had to repay the costs of their travel to the mine company, the hall was a home for months and sometimes years to many Black miners. The building also served the spiritual needs for the Black community of Glace Bay as it held wakes and weddings. 

Today a plan is in place to enhance the content within the space to share the history of the Black community. We got a sneak peak at the improvements that are planned for the Museum. 

UNIA Museum

Personally for me it had been over 10 years since I had visited the UNIA site and was very pleased with the work that was being done to preserve this important part of history by Ms. Brewster. I look forward to the upgrades in the near future.

- R. Grosse

Community Outreach in Whitney Pier

With clear skies and beautiful weather the entire Black Cultural Centre staff and Black Cultural Society board of Directors, hit the highway for the fourth community outreach visit. This visit would include Whitney Pier in Sydney Cape Breton and Tracadie, in Guysbrough County.

The first visit took place at the Menelik Hall Community Center. We were welcomed by the local community and discovered the remarkable history of the community of Whitney Pier and the contributions that were made to the steel industry by African Nova Scotians. Communities in this area of Nova Scotia were settled as early as the 1920's through migrations from the Caribbean and Alabama.  

Menelik Hall, Whitney Pier

The community is the noted home of several African Nova Scotian trailblazers, such as Clotilda Yakimchuk who in 1954, became the first Black graduate of the Nova Scotia Hospital School of Nursing. She also received a post graduate midwifery diploma from Colony Hospital, Grenada, West Indies, a post graduate psychiatric nursing certificate from the Nova Scotia Hospital and a diploma in adult education from St.FX University. Ms. Yakimchuk spent 50 years in the nursing profession. She began her career as Head Nurse of the Admission/Discharge Unit of the Nova Scotia Hospital. From there she moved to Grenada, West Indies, where she was the Director of Nursing at the Psychiatric Hospital. Ms. Yakimchuk moved back to Canada in 1967, where she took a position as Staff Nurse at the Sydney City Hospital. She later became Nursing Supervisor and later Director of Staff Development at the Cape Breton Hospital. She then served as Director of Education Services at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital until her retirement from nursing in 1994. We were fortunate to have her present at the event. 

Also from Whitney Pier was the late Carl “Campy” Crawford, a long time resident of Whitney Pier, who had also made history. “Campy” joined the Sydney Police Service in 1964, becoming the first black municipal police officer in Nova Scotia and east of Montreal.

Whitney Pier is also the home of former Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, Mayann E. Francis, who was the first woman ombudsman of Nova Scotia and when she became lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia in September 2006, she became the first Black Nova Scotian and the second Black Canadian (after Lincoln Alexander of Hamilton, Ontario) to hold this position.

The African Nova Scotian Community of Whitney Pier is steeped in history and we were grateful for the history that was provided by Reverend Mother Phyllis Marsh-Jarvis, who shared details about the culture and history of the area as well as her life growing up in the community. Music was also provided by the talented Eddie Paris.

The weekend road trip continued on with the Black Cultural Society holding a board meeting in Sydney on the next morning as well as a visit to the UNIA Hall Museum (see separate blog post about this visit). We were truly blessed by the warm welcome we received and the history we discovered.

Black Cultural Society, Board Meeting in Sydney

Eddie Paris "Green Grass of Home"

- R. Grosse

New Glasgow Community Outreach

On Thursday August 31st, 2017 our community outreach series took us to New Glasgow to visit the African Nova Scotian Community at Second United Baptist Church. There was a full house on hand to share the history of the area.

New Glasgow has a special place in African Nova Scotian history as the home of such historic icons as Dr. Carrie Best was a Nova Scotia journalist, author and human rights activist who published The Clarion, the first black-owned newspaper in Nova Scotia, starting in 1946. She had a radio show that ran for twelve years across the maritime provinces called The Quiet Corner.  She became a Member of the Order of Canada in 1974, and in 1979 was further honoured by being made an Officer of the Order of Canada.  Dr. Best died in 2001 but was posthumously awarded the Order of Nova Scotia in 2002 and was remembered on a Canada Post stamp in 2011.

Community Outreach Session in New Glasgow

The host and emcee for the evening was Sandra Andresen and remarks were given by provincial MLA's Pat Dunn - Pictou Centre and Tim Houston - Pictou East, New Glasgow Mayor, Nancy Dicks. An overview of the history of the African Nova Scotian community was provided by Francis Dorrington, former city councilor and resident of New Glasgow.  We were also treated to the sounds of the Umoja Drummers who performed.

- R. Grosse