LibGuides: Black History: Black Canadians

Black Albertans

The following list is by no means an exhaustive list of Black Albertans, but it is to be used as a broad introduction to Black Albertan thinkers, creatives, and civil rights activists.

Melvin Crump
Albertan jazz drummer and civil rights activist.
Eleanor Ruth Collins
Jazz musician. First Canadian woman to host her own national television show.
Violet King
First Black lawyer in Alberta and first Black woman lawyer in Canada.
John Ware
Well known rancher and cowboy in Southern Alberta in the late 19th century.
Charles Daniel
After refusing to sit in the balcony at the Grand Theatre in 1914, he launched one of the first civil rights cases in western Canada.
Oliver Bowen
Managed the design and construction of Calgary’s LRT system.

Black Canadians

The following list is by no means an exhaustive list of Black Canadians, but it is to be used as a broad introduction to Black Canadians thinkers, creatives, and civil rights activists.

Viola Davis Desmond
Civil rights activist and beautician.
Mifflin Wistar Gibbs
First Black person to be elected into public office in British Columbia in 1866, Gibbs pushed for Black rights in Vancouver.
Stanley Grizzle
Member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (a Black union in Canada and the US) for 20 years, Grizzle later became the first Black employee of the Ontario Board of Labour, and the first Black judge of the Canadian Court of Immigration.
Mary Ann Shadd Cary
Mary was an abolitionist in the underground railroad, advocate for Black education, the founder of "The Provincial Freeman"-- an abolitionist newspaper. She was the first Canadian woman to establish, publish and edit a newspaper.
23 other Black Canadians
If you are looking for more information, this interactive article including 23 other Black Canadians not included on this list.