
Thornton and Lucie Blackburn
Thornton and Lucie (Ruthie) Blackburn, freedom seekers, entrepreneurs, anti-slavery activists and community benefactors (Thornton, born c. 1812 in May...
Read more
Portia White
Portia May White, contralto, teacher (born 24 June 1911 in Truro, NS; died 13 February 1968 in Toronto, ON). Portia White was the first Black Canadian...
Read more
Rosemary Brown
Rosemary Brown, née Wedderburn, OC, OBC, social worker, politician (born 17 June 1930 in Kingston, Jamaica; died 26 April 2003 in Vancouver, BC)....
Read more
Sleeping Car Porters in Canada
Sleeping car porters were railway employees who attended to passengers aboard sleeping cars. Porters were responsible for passengers’ needs throughout...
Read more
The Coloured Corps: Black Canadians and the War of 1812
The Coloured Corps (also known as Runchey's Company of Coloured Men, or Black Corps) was a militia company of Black men raised during the War of 1812.
Read more
Viola Desmond
Viola Irene Desmond (née Davis), businesswoman, civil rights activist (born 6 July 1914 in Halifax, NS; died 7 February 1965 in New York, NY). Viola D...
Read more
Africville
Africville was an African-Canadian village located just north of Halifax and founded around the mid-19th century. The City of Halifax demolished the o...
Read more
Marie-Joseph Angélique
Marie-Joseph Angélique (born circa 1705 in Madeira, Portugal; died 21 June 1734 in Montréal, QC). Angélique was an enslaved Black woman owned by Thér...
Read more
Willie O'Ree
Willie O’Ree, CM, ONB, hockey player (born 15 October 1935 in Fredericton, NB). On 18 January 1958, Willie O’Ree became the first Black hockey playe...
Read more
Charles Lightfoot Roman
Charles Lightfoot Roman, MD, CM, surgeon, author, researcher, lecturer (born 19 May 1889 in Port Elgin, ON; died 8 June 1961 in Valleyfield, QC). Char...
Read more
Jean Augustine
Jean Augustine (née Simon), PC, CM, first Black female MP and Cabinet minister, social justice advocate, teacher, principal (born 9 September 1937 i...
Read more
No. 2 Construction Battalion
On 5 July 1916, the Department of Defence and Militia authorized the formation of No. 2 Construction Battalion. It was the largest Black unit in Canad...
Read more
Violet King
Violet Pauline King Henry, lawyer (born 18 October 1929 in Calgary, AB; died 30 March 1982 in New York, NY). King was the descendant of Black settlers...
Read more
Stanley G. Grizzle
Stanley George Sinclair Grizzle, CM, OOnt, citizenship judge, politician, civil servant, labour union activist (born 18 November 1918 in Toronto, ON;...
Read more