The Black Loyalists of Canada

I grew up thinking that Canada was the antithesis of the United States in its treatment of minority groups. In my mind, this was especially true of African Americans; the US had cotton plantations, while we had the Underground Railroad. Black History Month inspired me to do a bit of reading, and I’ve discovered that sometimes the true story is not so tidy. Let’s look back 230 years to the founding of Canada’s first black community – Birchtown, Nova Scotia.

Birchtown has its roots in the Loyalist migration out of the American colonies during the Revolutionary War. Those who refused to take up arms against the British, or at least doubted that the British were trying to enslave them, were ostracized by their communities. Strangely, the movement towards liberty and freedom had led to vicious persecution against all dissenting voices. Just over a decade later, the French Revolution would do much the same.

Those among the 70,000 who remained loyal to Britain came from all levels of society. They were soldiers, labourers, farmers, artisans, merchants. They were Dutch, English, colony-born, and German; Quakers, Methodists, and Huguenots. And among their number were 3,000 African Americans.

During the Revolutionary War, British authorities had encouraged slaves to leave their American masters, and they were promised freedom if they fought for the crown. Many took up the offer, and after the war was over, migrated north to find refuge in the remaining British colonies. Most of their number gathered together to settle in Shelburne, Nova Scotia. True to their word, the authorities had granted them land – albeit, smaller plots in less desirable areas – and there they settled on the other side of the Shelburne harbour. They named their community Birchtown in honour of the British commander who had authorized their passage from New York.

A black woodcutter in Shelburne, Nova Scotia - 1788

Like us, they wanted to live free of prejudice, to own property, to give a promising future to their children. They arrived in Nova Scotia dreaming of a “promised land” – and, appropriately, one of their prominent leaders was named Moses. This Moses Wilkinson was a former slave and fiery Methodist preacher. Moses helped to lead spiritual revival in Birchtown, and his presence led several young men to take up the ministry as well. And his labours did not pass unnoticed. So many of their number belonged to the Methodist denomination that John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, learned of the community and wrote to encourage white Methodists in Shelburne:

The work of God among the blacks in your neighbourhood is a wonderful instance of the power of God; and the little town they have built is, I suppose, the only town of negroes that has been built in America – nay perhaps in and part of the world, except only in Africa… Give them all the assistance you can in every possible way.

Sadly, Wesley’s views were not shared by many of the white settlers in the area. Residents of Birchtown faced oppression, and even violence at the hands of their neighbours. They weren’t used to the Canadian winter, and their poor farmland was scarcely able to produce a crop. To sustain themselves, they were often forced to work in the lowest jobs for insulting wages. Perhaps the strongest testimony to their conditions was that, when the opportunity came for free passage to Sierra Leone (the new British colony), more than one third of Birchtown took up the offer.

I’ve come away from this story thinking that we Canadians have a small share of moral high ground on this topic. I am proud of the Underground Railroad, but we must grant that there is more to the story than that.

Sources

History of the Canadian Peoples, by Margaret Conrad and Alvin Finkel

The Structure of Canadian History, by J.L. Finlay and D.N. Sprague

Black Loyalists: Our History, Our People http://blackloyalist.com/canadiandigitalcollection/index.htm

"Adventurers in Paint": The Group of Seven

“Painting the Canadian scene in a Canadian fashion” was the vision of the artists who came to call themselves The Group of Seven. Between the years of 1920 and 1931, they held eight exhibitions of their works, and forever changed the landscape of Canadian painting. Rather than bore you with lots of text, today I want to let their paintings speak for themselves. Here are seven paintings by seven great Canadian artists!

The Edge of the Maple Wood

This first painting is by A.Y. Jackson. It might look like a muddy hill to us, but to the young Canadian artists at that time, it was “like a glowing flame packed with potential energy and loveliness.” That quote comes from Arthur Lismer, who saw the painting at the 1913 exhibition of the Ontario Society of the Arts with friends J.E.H. MacDonald, Tom Thomson, and Lawren Harris. They were so impressed that they invited Jackson to join their circle.

The Guide's Home

This painting by Arthur Lismer really shows the group’s debt to French Impressionism. Artists of that school used dabs of paint to express light and movement. With this painting, you can almost hear the rustle of the wind in the birch trees and feel the crunch of fall leaves underfoot.

First Snow, Lake Superior

Lawren Harris was a leader and visionary in the circle of young artists. One of the group wrote that art, for Lawren Harris, “was almost a mission. He believed that a country which ignored the arts left no record of itself worth preserving.” This painting of the north shore of Lake Superior shares the same smooth, rounded surfaces that are characteristic of his other works. He has simplified the ruggedness of the landscape to suggest a purified spiritual place.

Bisset Farm

Most of the Group of Seven painted with oil on canvas, but Franklin Carmichael developed a unique style with watercolour on paper. I like how this one displays the grandeur of the hills that rise high in the backdrop, set over the small, tenuous presence of the family farm in the foreground. Still to this day, our presence in Canada is small indeed in relation to the vast wilderness beyond our cities.

The Cloud, Red Mountain

Unlike most the group, Fred Varley preferred painting people more than lakes and trees. But when he took a teaching position in British Columbia in 1926, he couldn’t resist the grandeur and beauty of the Rocky Mountains. He wrote enthusiastically to a friend “British Columbia is heaven.” At first, I didn’t like The Cloud, Red Mountain, but it has grown on me since. Varley lifts our gaze to the sky above the mountains, with its rich deep blue in contrast with the sun-touched clouds.

Fire-Swept Algoma

The artists didn’t always paint scenes of arresting beauty; sometimes they turn our attention to the wild or destructive power of nature. In this composition by Frank Johnston, we see a hillside ravaged by forest fire. What I like here is how the artist shows us both the fierce and regenerative side of nature. If you look closely, you can see green blades of grass rising up from the forest floor.

Fine Weather, Georgian Bay

Georgian Bay was a favorite subject for the artists. Some of their most memorable works show windswept trees clinging for dear life to the rocky shoreline. In this one though, James MacDonald shows a rare view of the Bay in peaceful weather. The foreground shows three friends together enjoying the wide expanse of sun and sky, giving a vivid picture of how the artists saw themselves and their work. On a camping trip to Algonquin Park with his friends Tom Thomson, A.Y. Jackson, and Arthur Lismer, Fred Varley wrote that they were “all working to one big end… emptying ourselves of everything except that nature is here in all its greatness.”

Sources:
The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson, by Anne Newlands
The Art History Archive, "The Group of Seven." http://goo.gl/vYfdS