Dispatches from the Prairies

1/ Someone raised the concept of Black pioneers being settlers. It is an important point that I have been seriously thinking about this whole year by reading historians and sociologists.

I can’t proclaim anything on that. But here is what I know.

2/ Any serious and intellectually honest exploration of the history of Black people on the Prairies will have to contend with their presence on Treaty land and what that means politically, socially, historically, etc.

3/ About 1,500 to 2,000 African American farmers came from the southern U.S. from 1905 to 1911 in search of a better life and a place that was less hostile and dangerous than Jim Crow America. They established five small pioneering communities: one in Sask. and four in Alberta.

4/ They also came because the federal government recruited them. The feds led an agressive campaign to recruit farmers at the time.
The families could access cheap land in Canada and buy a quarter-section of land, about 49 hectares, for $10.

5/ Now, quickly after they arrived, the feds, under pressure from the Canadian public, did a counter-offensive to dissuade more families from coming. Essentially, the stance was: "we want farmers but not that kind." Re: Black.
In fact, a law was even passed to this effect.

6/ Here is where there is a fundamental difference between Black and white pioneers. Black pioneers encountered systemic racism. For instance, in Sask., their children couldn’t get into integrated schools for some time. They didn’t receive the same level of government support.

7/ I will stop there for now.
More to come in a piece I will publish soon.

***I’d be remiss if I don’t add this. Some also raise the question if descendants of slaves be considered settlers. My role is not to decide on that.

None of this can be divorced from the larger context of treaty, how the land was obtained in the first place. Re: colonization.

9/ This particular series of dispatches is to also say that I am thinking about these issues. Very serious point. @jimhounslow brought it up.

As my friend Dr @leleinah says it’s all about land.