http://www.jstor.org
By ROBERT W. O'BRIEN
Victoria's Negro
Colonists- 1858- 1866
WHEN
the history of the Pacific
Northwest is finally written it will tell the story of the
exploits of individual Negro pioneers like George Bush, who
organized and led the first colony of American settlers to
the shores of Puget Sound, or George Washington, founder of
the City of Centralia, Washington. The most significant
contribution of the Negro to pioneer life in this region is
not, however, the result of individual
leadership.
In 1858 some eight
hundred colored persons migrated from California to the
British Crown Colony of Victoria, Vancouver Island. The
story back of this migration is one of discrimination and
legal strangulation which made California virtually a slave
state.' In 1852 the legislature passed a fugitive slave act
which stated that "in no trial or hearing under this act
shall the testimony of such alleged fugitives be admitted
in evidence." Hence any freed Negro accused of being a
slave could not give evidence on his own behalf. To this
was added a statute making all persons of Negro blood wear
collars around their necks and this collar was fastened
with a tag which had to be renewed annually. The colored
population were aroused and angered at this added
humiliation, and delegates from all sections of California
assembled in San Francisco.
The decision to
migrate from California was reached. The choice lay between
the Mexican state of Sonora, Hawaii, and the British Crown
Colony of Vancouver Island.
On April 20, 1858,
sixty-five Negroes went north to claim the territory and to
purchase land in Victoria. Their reports were enthusiastic:
land could be obtained at twenty shillings an acre;
landowners after a residence of nine months had the right
of electoral franchise, of sitting as jurors and all the
protection of the laws as citizens of the colony; there
were two churches and two schools, one of which was taught
by an educated Indian. In short, "it was a God-sent land
for Colored people."~
Eight hundred
individuals followed the sixty-five scouts north to see for
themselves "the God-sent land." They invested the sums they
brought with them in real estate and with the influx of
gold miners a month later, they found themselves in a
relatively secure economic position. At the time of the
first Negro arrivals, Victoria was a settlement with a
population of eight hundred. In May of 1858, 1,262
newcomers arrived, in June 7,149 and in July 6,274 Almost
over night Victoria ceased being a British trading post and
became an American mining town. One of the early Negro
arrivals found himself twenty days after landing from
California receiving $500 a month rental for half the space
in a building which cost him $3,200.
The personnel making
up the migration was varied as to education, occupation,
and place of origin. A representative list of fifty-three
colored persons applying for British citizenship in 1864
when analyzed by the Edwards occupational rating scale
showed: none in the professional class, 18 in the
proprietary, 3 in the clerical, 11 in the skilled, 16 in
the semiskilled and 5 in the unskilled
group.
One of the members of
the proprietary class was studying law at the time, and
another member of this class later became a school teacher.
Missouri and Virginia were dominant as places of birth of
the colonists, although a number of northern states were
given, as well as Scotland, Ireland, Liberia, Trinidad, and
Jamaica.
Whatever the hopes of
the Negroes, they had not long to enjoy their new found
freedom, for the white Americans seeking gold brought with
them their tradition of segregation and the caste system.
As early as February 1859, one of the colonists wrote an
appeal to the local paper asking for a fair chance We have
come to this country to make it the land of our adoption
for ourselves and our children.
We have come to
possess the soil, to mould its rocks and forests into
firesides, to build for ourselves and our children homes in
the land of the free.
Race friction
increased when a Victoria playbill carried the following
note:
The undersigned
without intending the slightest offence to any of
Victoria's residents, feels compelled in this city of
varied nationalities and as conservator of the peace of our
establishment to state that colored persons cannot be
admitted into the dress circle or orchestra seats. Should
they feel disposed to visit the theater, he will cheerfully
fit up and comfortably furnish for them an eligible portion
of the building; but he will not expose his audience to the
disturbance and danger too likely to arise out of disputes
about place, position, and
precedence.
(Signed) Thomas Ward.
This
notice was followed by a sack of flour aimed at a "kindly
and cultured colored gentleman who always took his family
to the theatre when there was anything worth seeing."' A
free-for-all followed, during which the merchant escorted
his family out of the theatre.
Other incidents
followed. Americans attending church left indignantly if a
Negro was shown into the same pew. A colored person trying
to buy a drink was refused service by the bartender. When
carried into court, the judge ruled that everyone must be
served but that the proprietor could charge two dollars a
drink if he wished.
When a group of Negro
leaders approached Governor Sir James Douglas and asked
permission to form a segregated colony on Salt Springs
Island, he objected, saying that there was no reason white
and colored people could not work and live together. He did
allow the colored citizens to form a separate Pioneer Rifle
Corps. Thus was organized by the Negroes of Victoria in
1860 the first authorized military force in western
Canada.
The company was made
up of three officers and forty-four men and nine band
instruments. The uniforms, which included a shako
head-dress, were especially made for them in England, and
were issued by the Hudson Bay Company. They were blue with
white facings and pipe-clayed trappings. Records in the
Archives in Victoria reveal the difficulties confronting
the Rifle Corps. The men were armed with muskets, old
Hudson Bay Company flintlocks and a few modern firearms
fitted with bayonets. A sergeant from H. M. S. Swiftsure
was the instructor at a salary of five dollars a day. The
yearly expense of $1,358 for keeping up the drill hall and
paying the sergeant's wages was met by fees and
subscriptions from the colored citizens. The government
allowance was $225. White residents were excluded from
membership, and as a result the company was nicknamed, the
"All Blacks" and the "African Rifles."
The Victoria Pioneer
Rifle Corps was disbanded in 1864 when Sir James Douglas
was succeeded by Governor Kennedy.
This body of colored
troops was the first military formation of the colony,
trained at a time when, to the Old World, New Caledonia
(British Columbia) was little more than a mythical
land.
In years following
1864, Negroes again began to play an important role in the
life of the community. Mifflin W. Gibbs was twice elected
to the Common Council of the City of Victoria. He was also
selected as a delegate to the Fort Yale Convention which
decided on the question of affiliation of British Columbia
with the Dominion of Canada. Negroes were again called to
serve on juries. In many of the finest establishments,
where the proprietors are Englishmen, there is no
distinction, writes an unnamed correspondent of the Pacific
Appeal of this time.'* A Negro concern was given the
contract to build the wharfs, barracks, and tenders for the
Queen Charlotte Island in 1868. With the close of the Civil
War many members of the group left for the United States.
Of this first Negro Colony in Victoria there are less than
a dozen families represented today and Mrs. Silvia Stark,
now 102, is the lone survivor of the original
party.
By
FRANK HORNE
No 'Count Nigger
"A nigger
jes
aint much good . . ."
A
nigger's good
for
buildin' pyramids
an'
sky-scrapers-
He's
good for diggin'
coal
and diamonds
out
o' the insides
o'
hills
an'
raisin' a cotton empire-
He's
only good
for
hewin' wood
an'
drawin' water
an'
carryin' folks
on
his back-
He's
only good
for
singin'
an'
laughin'
an'
dreamin'
an'
for carryin' crosses
when
they gets too heavy
for
other folks
to
bear-
"Jes
aint much
a
nigger kin do . . ."
Victoria's Negro
Colonists -- 1858-1866
Robert
W. O'Brien
Phylon
(1940-1956), Vol. 3, No. 1. (1st Qtr.,
1942),
pp.
15-18.
Stable
URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0885-6818%28194231%293%3A1<15%3AVNC-1>2.0.CO%3B2-N
Phylon (1940-1956) is
currently published by Clark
Atlanta
University.
sfexodus.com
is sponsored by justicefound.org