Blog Post:19th and Early 20th Century Black Women
in Canada
· Reading: Chapter #4: Black Women and Work in 19th Century Canada
West: Black Woman Teacher Mary Bibb
Within the text, “Black Women and Work in 19th
Century Canada West: Black Woman Teacher Mary Bibb”, Afua Cooper explores the
life of abolitionist activist and teacher, Mary Bibb. Mary Bibb, along with her
husband Henry, migrated from Boston to Sandwich Canada West as a result of the
Fugitive Slave Act 1850. The Fugitive Slave Act, which granted American slave
holders from the south to travel North to recapture escaped slaves, resulted in
a mass exodus to Canada. Many of these people already
established in the north with forms of education, trades, and they were leaving
economic stability.
Clip:
Bibb’s First School & Entrepreneurial Spirit
Within Black communities in Canada, there existed an entrepreneurial
spirit that pushed Mary Bibb, and her husband Henry to initiate Black
empowerment projects. As Henry founded a newspaper titled “The Voice of the
Fugitive”, Mary opened a school in her region to provide Black children with
access to education.
In the same year, provincial legislature passed an act that
promoted segregated schooling. This act legalized the creation of Black
academic institutions, which was used as a justification by White Canadians to
bar Black students from attending their schools.
“For the many years that Mary Bibb
taught in Canada she was acutely aware that the powers-that-be meant for Blacks
to be placed firmly at the bottom of society’s ladder. Inferior education was
one way to ensure this outcome.”
// Afua Cooper, pg. 122
Although
Bibb was dedicated in her efforts to combat state-sanctioned racism through
education, she was forced to resign from her position shortly after a year.
According to Cooper, the school was unsustainable for 2 reasons. Firstly,
parental poverty within the region made it difficult for adults to invest in
these institutions. As a result, Bibb was not compensated for her efforts.
Secondly, the lack of governmental financial support tied with this parental
poverty made the schools collapse inevitable.
Bibb’s Second School
In 1852, Bibb moved
to Windsor and once again, founded a school for her community members. This
school was successful because of Bibb’s determination to have a private
institution independent of the government.
Discussion Question: In what ways
can education be used as both a tool of marginalization and liberation for
Black Canadians, and specifically Black Canadian women?
Notably, Bibb aspired
for her second school to be open to all “irrespective of colour”. In her last
spring term in 1855, there were 46 pupils, 7 of which were White students. Let’s consider
Afro-centric Alternative Schools in Toronto!
Discussion: After acknowledging Canada’s history of
excluding Blacks from academia through legislation, are Afro-centric schools
helpful/necessary to combat anti-black racism? What do you think about
Afro-centric schools? Are they still useful institutions?
Other Black Empowerment projects in Windsor:
·
Bibb
assisted in local religious services
§ Sunday school was the only opportunity
for many blacks to receive education in Essex county
·
Helped
to establish Windsor anti-slavery society
Cooper notes that Bibb was influential in aiding in the
settlement of Black ‘refugees’ in Canada. This is interesting because Cooper
evokes the language of ‘refugee’, which I would, not deemed these migrants
prior to reading the text.
Discussion: What links can we make between the
experiences/treatments of Black migrants/refugees in Canada in the19th
century and current Black refugees in Canada?
Jane Rhodes Reading: Mary Ann Shadd Cary
·
First Black
female publisher in North America
§ Edited ‘Provincial Freeman 1853”
·
First female publisher
in Canada
·
Abolitionist
·
1850 – Moved
to Buxton due to Fugitive Slave Act
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