CCU Celebrates Black History Month – Central Canada - Confederation of Canadian Unions (CCU)

The CCU-CSC is acknowledging the contribution of black workers in Canada as part of Black History month through a three-part series highlighting the impact of black Canadians in our country. This is part two of the three-part series that starts with the East coast, where immigration to Canada first began.

Sleeping Car Porters Union – A Story of Solidarity
- The all black Sleeping Car Porters Union voted to support the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, even though it was only recently formed. Find out more about why this vulnerable group decided to support the strike in the Winnipeg General Strike Tour Booklet, and the 2-page document prepared by the booklet writers linked above.
- The Canadian Human Right Museum (CMHR) offers an excellent short online article by Travis Tomchuk, Black sleeping car porters: The struggle for Black labour rights on Canada’s railways
- York University honours former Sleeping Car Porter

Immigration & the Underground Railroad
- The Archives of Ontario is pleased to introduce the following online exhibit through a joint project of the Archives of Ontario and the Ontario Black History Society (OBHS): The Black Canadian Experience in Ontario 1834-1914: Flight, Freedom, Foundation

Fabulous Freddie

This video by TSN highlights how in the 1940s and 50s, black athletes weren’t afforded the same opportunities as their white counterparts. Integration had begun, but there was still a long road ahead. Windsor, Ontario native Fred Thomas excelled in spite of this climate – both on and off the field. This is the story of an unsung Canadian pioneer.

Historic Sites:
- Pilgrim Baptist Church (41 Maple St., across from Winnipeg Fire Hall & Museum at 56 Maple St.) in Winnipeg, MB opened circa 1923 near the CPR railway, and became an important social and cultural centre for Winnipeg’s first black community, which primarily only found employment on the railways at this time.
- Amherstburg, ON located on Detroit River near Lake Erie, has a national historic site (designated in 1999), the fieldstone Nazrey African Methodist Episcopal Church (1848); the centerpiece of the North American Black Historical Museum. The museum tells the story of Amherstburg’s role as a terminus of the Underground Railroad and the town’s black heritage.
- In 1841 Reverend Josiah Henson, a former slave from the US, helped establish the British American Institute, a vocational school and refuge for fugitives from slavery. Henson is reputed to have been the model for Uncle Tom in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852). His 2-storey house, built around 1842, is now part of the Uncle Tom’s Cabin historic site in Dresden, ON.

The last in this series, Black History Month – West, will be released at the end of the month. Enjoy these reads until then!

In Solidarity,

The Confederation of Canadian Unions