In Their Own Words: Memoirs of Alberta’s Pioneering Black Residents
In Their Own Words: Memoirs of Alberta’s Pioneering Black Residents
By Owais Siddiqui, Multicultural Narratives Supervisor, Fort Edmonton Park
It is important to acknowledge that Black history is in fact world history; and virtually every part of the world has been significantly impacted and enriched by Black heritage, including the province of Alberta. To better appreciate how deeply rooted the presence and influence of the Black community is in Alberta, I thought it would be enlightening to share the memoirs of some of Alberta’s earliest Black residents - in their own words.
Daniel T. Williams
Daniel Willaims arrived in Alberta from Ontario sometime in the late 1850s as a member of the Palliser Expedition. After his work with the Palliser Expedition ended, Daniel took up farming and gardening in the Peace River area. Daniel Williams wrote down the conditions of the climate and changing weather patterns to keep track of his farming progress. Excerpts from Daniel’s notebook were featured in ‘Province of Manitoba and North-West Territory of the Dominion of Canada: Information for Emigrants (p.32, p.33, 1878)’. Dan Williams’ notes on climate and farming patterns are (currently) regarded as the earliest known writings in public record written by a Black person in Alberta (selected quotes):
Notebook 1872 - 1875
“1874
“River broke up 19th April
“First geese came 21st April
“Sowed barley and oats April 22nd
“River cleared of upper ice May 3rd
“Planted potatoes may 5th
“Potatoes not injured from frost until 22nd September. Then snow fell
which covered them, but soon went off. Dug over 100 bushels from one planting.
“Ice commenced to run in river October 30th
“River closed November 23rd
“Snowed all night November 4th
“1875
“Ice broke up in river April 15th
“Warm rains from north-west; blue flies, and rain February 18th
“Ice cleared out in front of Fort, April 16th
“Potatoes planted 8th, 9th, and 10th May
“Barley and oates sown May 7th
“Snow all gone before the middle of April. This applies to both the river valley
and the level country above.”
Janet “Nettie” Ware
Janet “Nettie” Ware was the firstborn child of Alberta’s most famous cowboy, John Ware. Nettie shares memories of herself and her family in the collection of published memoirs, The Window Of Our Memories (selected quotes):
“I was born in Calgary on March 9th, 1893…
“I was a girl who was always with my father. I’d be with him herdin’ cattle, or working cattle, or something like that. I’ve been bucked off a horse and father would just shake the dust off and put me back on again…
“Mother was ill for quite a while, so father thought he had better do something. It was quite an effort even to get to Brooks to get the train. At any rate, he got her to Calgary. The doctor put her in hospital and she was there just ten days before she passed away with typhoid pneumonia and left the five of us. After we lost our mother, my grandmother took the rest of us; we were raised among our uncles and aunts just like one happy family. Then father died from a fall…
“Two of my brothers went to World War I - Billy and Arthur. Billy was old enough to go, but Arthur wasn’t sixteen years old. Poor grandma; it just broke her heart - Arthur not sixteen years old and going to war…
“Both of my brothers came home; they fought in trenches in those times, in World War I. Then Billy died with tuberculosis; he was buried in the Field of Honour in Calgary. Arthur is living yet - the youngest one…
“I’ve taken part in many things. The year that thrilled me most was when I was voted ‘Pioneer Daughter of Southern Alberta’...”
Jefferson Edwards (Building A Community in Amber Valley)
Jefferson Edwards was an enterprising member of Alaberta’s Black community who helped found the community of Amber Valley (formerly known as Pine Creek), in north-centeral Alberta. Jefferson arrived in Alberta in 1910, and was busy in a variety of community building ventures immediately afterwards. In the book, The Window Of Our Memories, Jefferson Edwards recalls (selected quotes):
“I have a good remembrance of the past because I was in it so long. I was on the Hospital Board for a number of years. I was vice-president of the Agricultural society for a number of years. I ran all the (Amber Valley) picnics from 1925 to 1940; no one had anything to say but me. They turned it all over to me and I ran it…
“I figured that our people just didn’t have the money to send out kids to the Athabasca school. So I went to the Divisional School Board and asked them if they could give us a high school that would teach the ninth and tenth grades; because if we had to send our kids away we were not able to send them to Athabasca to go to those grades. Mr. Hodgson said, ‘I’ll come to the house and figure out if that would last five years.’ He came to the house and we took a survey of how many children would be going to school in five years, you see. ‘Yes’ was the answer; we got the school that would teach ninth and tenth grades…”
By sharing these memories I hope we can all take some time to reflect, and cherish, Alberta’s Black community; and recognize that the Black community is, and always has been, an integral part of Alberta’s society - since before Alberta became a province, right up to our current times.
Sources:
- ‘The Black Prairie Archives, An Anthology’. (Edited) by Karina Vernon. 2020. Pp.39
- https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.59114/38
- Carter, Velma, and Wanda Laffler Akili. ‘The Window Of Our Memories’. Published By The B.C.R. Society of Alberta, 1981, pp. 12, pp. 82, pp. 85
- https://www.blackcanadianveterans.com/post/ware-arthur
- https://citymuseumedmonton.ca/2021/08/15/albertas-early-black-settlements/