Portia May White was a Canadian contralto, known for becoming the first Black Canadian concert singer to achieve international fame. Growing up as part of her father's church choir in Halifax, Nova Scotia, White competed in local singing competitions as a teenager and later trained at the Halifax Conservatory of Music. In 1941 and 1944, she made her national and international debuts as a singer, receiving critical acclaim for her performances of both classical European music and African-American spirituals. White later completed tours throughout Europe, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.
Africville was a small community of predominantly African Nova Scotians located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It developed on the southern shore of Bedford Basin and existed from the early 1800s to the 1960s. From 1970 to the present, a protest has occupied space on the grounds. The government has recognized it as a commemorative site and established a museum here. The community has become an important symbol of Black Canadian identity, as an example of the "urban renewal" trend of the 1960s that razed similarly racialized neighbourhoods across Canada, and the struggle against racism.
The North End of Halifax is a neighbourhood of Halifax, Nova Scotia occupying the northern part of Halifax Peninsula immediately north of Downtown Halifax.
Preston is an area in central Nova Scotia, Canada in the Halifax Regional Municipality, located on Trunk 7. Preston includes the subdivisions of East Preston, North Preston, Lake Major, Cherry Brook and Loon Lake. The definition sometimes extends to include Lake Echo. The population in 2016 was 3,223. This is a decline from 2006, when Preston had a population of 3,536.
East Preston is an expansive rural Black Nova Scotian community located in eastern Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, in Atlantic Canada. The population at the time of the 2016 census was 869.
Cherry Brook rural community located to the north of Trunk 7 between Lake Loon and Lake Major, and just a few kilometres east of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. It has a significant African Nova Scotian population.
Goffs is a Canadian rural community in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality.
Beechville is a Black Nova Scotian settlement and suburban community within the Halifax Regional Municipality of Nova Scotia, Canada, on the St. Margaret's Bay Road. The Beechville Lakeside Timberlea (BLT) trail starts here near Lovett Lake, following the line of the old Halifax and Southwestern Railway. Ridgecliff Middle School, located in Beechville Estates, serves the communities of Beechville, Lakeside and Timberlea.
Black Nova Scotians are Black Canadians whose ancestors primarily date back to the Colonial United States as slaves or freemen, later arriving in Nova Scotia, Canada, during the 18th and early 19th centuries. As of the 2021 Census of Canada, 28,220 Black people live in Nova Scotia, most in Halifax. Since the 1950s, numerous Black Nova Scotians have migrated to Toronto for its larger range of opportunities. Before the immigration reforms of 1967, Black Nova Scotians formed 37% of the total Black Canadian population.
Uniacke Square is a public housing residential area in the north central area of Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is flanked in the northeast by Brunswick Street and to the southwest by Gottingen Street.
Richard Preston,, was a religious leader and abolitionist. He escaped slavery in Virginia to become an important leader for the African Nova Scotian community and in the international struggle against slavery. He established the Cornwallis Street Baptist Church, the African Abolition Society and the African Baptist Association.
Black refugees were black people who escaped slavery in the United States during the War of 1812 and settled in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Trinidad. The term is used in Canada for those who settled in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. They were the most numerous of the African Americans who sought freedom during the War of 1812. The Black refugees were the second group of African Americans, after the Black Loyalists, to flee American enslavement in wartime and settle in Canada. They make up the most significant single immigration source for today's African Nova Scotian communities. During the antebellum period, however, an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 Black refugees reached freedom in Canada, often traveling alone or in small family groups.
The Nova Scotian Settlers, or Sierra Leone Settlers, were African Americans who founded the settlement of Freetown, Sierra Leone and the Colony of Sierra Leone, on March 11, 1792. The majority of these black American immigrants were among 3,000 African Americans, mostly former slaves, who had sought freedom and refuge with the British during the American Revolutionary War, leaving rebel masters. They became known as the Black Loyalists. The Nova Scotian settlers were jointly led by African American Thomas Peters, a former soldier, and English abolitionist John Clarkson. For most of the 19th century, the Settlers resided in Settler Town and remained a distinct ethnic group within the Freetown territory, tending to marry among themselves and with Europeans in the colony.
The Africville Apology was a formal pronouncement delivered on 24 February 2010 by the City of Halifax, Nova Scotia for the eviction and eventual destruction of Africville, a Black Nova Scotian community.
Upper Hammonds Plains is a Canadian suburban community located in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality.
New Horizons Baptist Church is a Baptist church in Halifax, Nova Scotia that was established by Black Refugees in 1832. When the chapel was completed, black citizens of Halifax were reported to be proud because it was evidence that former slaves could establish their own institutions in Nova Scotia. Under the direction of Richard Preston, the church laid the foundation for social action to address the plight of Black Nova Scotians. It is affiliated with the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada.
John Burton (1760–1838) was a Baptist minister in Nova Scotia and was one of the first to integrate black and white Nova Scotians into the same congregation. David George was the first Baptist minister. In 1811, Burton's church had 33 members, the majority of whom were free blacks from Halifax and the neighbouring settlements of Preston and Hammonds Plains.
William Pearly Oliver worked at the Cornwallis Street Baptist Church for twenty-five years (1937–1962) and was instrumental in developing the four leading organizations to support Black Nova Scotians in the 20th century: Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Colored People (1945), the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission (1967), the Black United Front (1969) and the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia (1983). He was instrumental in supporting the case of Viola Desmond. Oliver was awarded the Order of Canada in 1984.
Lindell Shamar Wigginton is a Canadian professional basketball player for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played college basketball for the Iowa State Cyclones.
Donald D. Skeir was a Canadian pastor, community leader, and educator in the African Nova Scotian community.
