The current exhibit at White Rock Museum and Archives is a timely reminder of the sadness – and occasional triumphs – of the Black experience in B.C., coinciding, as it does, with Black History Month.
Hope Meets Action: Echoes Through the Black Continuum is a travelling exhibit created by the BC Black History Awareness Society in partnership with the Royal BC Museum.
Although the presentation leaves something to be desired – panels of historic photos, articles, specially commissioned artwork and an ongoing video, no matter how artistically achieved, can never be a satisfying substitute for genuine artifacts – the content nonetheless offers a provocative and intriguing perspective on an under-acknowledged element of B.C.
"Hope and refuge have always been at the core of Black migration to B.C.," the exhibit narrative states.
Yet for many Black people, seeking refuge and hope for the future away from the institutionalized racism of the U.S., B.C. was inevitably a disappointment – they too often discovered that the attitudes they sought to escape were already deeply entrenched in the white-dominated society of Canada.
But, as the exhibit's timeline demonstrates, the resilience of B.C.'s Black population translated not only into a strong record of achievement, despite long odds against success, but also in a stronger voice of protest against the status quo and reclamation of a history that had been framed only in terms of white dominance.
One of the most significant recurring themes in the exhibit is the Hogan's Alley neighbourhood of Vancouver – a once-thriving community and refuge for the many Black men who found work as sleeping car porters for the country's two major railway companies, and their families.
Denigrated as a 'slum' by urban planners following an agenda of the white "establishment," the neighbourhood, part of Vancouver's rich cultural tapestry from the 1920s through the 1950s, was bulldozed in the 1960s to make way for the construction of the Georgia Viaduct, envisioned as part of a city freeway system paving the way for the future.
In a supreme irony, as the 2020s approached, the City of Vancouver was forced to acknowledge that the viaduct was seismically unstable. But when it appeared plans to replace it ignored the history and controversy of Hogan's Alley, activists formed a pocket of resistance, advocating a return of the city block "to the stewardship of the Black community."
The exhibit also features some of the key personalities who embodied and shaped the Black experience in B.C. – including the controversial Sir James Douglas, first governor of the Colony of British Columbia, himself the child of a Black mother and a white father. A product of the British colonial system, he invited Black Americans to emigrate as potential loyal subjects, only to ultimately reject them, all the while participating in the disenfranchisement of the Indigenous population.
Also part of the narrative are such entertainment figures as Nora Hendrix, former vaudevillian and grandmother to guitar legend Jimi Hendrix; Hendrix himself, and such visitors as singer/dancer/comedian Sammy Davis Jr., who frequently played Vancouver in the early years of his career, and famed jazz trumpeter and vocalist Louis Armstrong, who, while welcomed by white society, was barred from staying at the Hotel Vancouver.
The exhibit also features the intriguing story of Leonard Lane, his long battle against racial discrimination in service industries, education and the workplace, and his founding of the first Black credit union in B.C. in 1959.
Also among inspirational stories is that of the long and varied political career Rosemary Brown, who, along with many other notable accomplishments was the first Black woman to be elected to any provincial legislature in Canada, and the first Black woman to run for leadership of a major political party in Canada.
The exhibit continues at White Rock Museum and Archives (14970 Marine Dr.) until April 26; admission by donation.
