Nova Scotia is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
New Glasgow is a town in Pictou County, in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated on the banks of the East River of Pictou, which flows into Pictou Harbour, a sub-basin of the Northumberland Strait.
Black Canadians, also known as Afro-Canadians, are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean and African immigrant origin, though the Black Canadian population also consists of African American immigrants and their descendants. Black Canadian migration from Africa has risen substantially since 2011.
The North End of Halifax is a neighbourhood of Halifax, Nova Scotia occupying the northern part of Halifax Peninsula immediately north of Downtown Halifax.
The Canadian ten-dollar note is one of the most common banknotes of the Canadian dollar.
Carrie Mae Best, was a Canadian journalist and social activist.
Hosting the region's largest urban population, Halifax, Nova Scotia is an important cultural centre in Atlantic Canada. Halifax is home to a vibrant arts and culture community that enjoys considerable support and participation from the general population. As the largest community and the administrative centre of the Atlantic region since its founding in 1749, Halifax has long-standing tradition of being a cultural generator. While provincial arts and culture policies have tended to distribute investment and support of the arts throughout the province, sometimes to the detriment of more populous Halifax, cultural production in the region is increasingly being recognized for its economic benefits, as well as its purely cultural aspects.
Viola Irene Desmond was a Canadian civil and women's rights activist and businesswoman of Black Nova Scotian descent. In 1946, she challenged racial segregation at a cinema in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, by refusing to leave a whites-only area of the Roseland Theatre. For this, she was convicted of a minor tax violation for the one-cent tax difference between the seat that she had paid for and the seat that she used, which was more expensive. Desmond's case is one of the most publicized incidents of racial discrimination in Canadian history and helped start the modern civil rights movement in Canada.
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.
Sylvia D. Hamilton is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, poet, and artist. Based in Nova Scotia, her work explores the lives and experiences of people of African descent. Her special focus is on African Nova Scotians, and especially women. In particular, her work takes the form of documentary films, writing, public presentations, teaching, mentoring, extensive volunteer work and community involvement. She has uncovered stories of struggles and contributions of African Canadians and introduced them to mainstream audiences. Through her work, she exposes the roots and the presence of systemic racism in Canada. She aims to provide opportunities for Black and Indigenous youth through education and empowerment.
Karla Michelle MacFarlane is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly in the 2013 provincial election. A member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia, she represents the electoral district of Pictou West. MacFarlane is a graduate of Husson University in Maine with an associate degree in Business Communications. In 2016, MacFarlane was named "Legislator of the Year" at the non-profit Springtide Collective's Better Politics Awards. She was re-elected in the 2017 provincial election.
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.
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.
The eighth series of banknotes of the Canadian dollar was first released by the Bank of Canada in 2018. Like the preceding 2011 Frontier series, the 2018 series consists of polymer banknotes designed for increased durability and to incorporate more security features. It is the first series issued by the Bank of Canada printed in a vertical configuration.
Joan Carol Jones was a Canadian businesswoman and civil rights activist who was born in the United States and raised in Ontario, Canada. She was married to Black Nova Scotian and internationally known political activist Rocky Jones, whom she influenced to become more active in the issues of black activism causes espoused by Malcolm X and writer James Baldwin, during the black radicalism period of the 1960s. Together they were among the founders of Kwacha House, an interracial youth club in Halifax and were later instrumental in bringing Stokely Carmichael and the Black Panther Party to Halifax. They adopted the radicalized language of the Panthers and organized with Carmichael's help the Black United Front, taking on issues of police brutality, employment and housing discrimination in the black community.
Ann MacLean is a Canadian politician, mental health therapist, and social worker. She was elected to Councillor of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia in 1985 and mayor in 1991. She was the first female Mayor in New Glasgow's history.
Corrine Sparks is a Canadian judge. She was the first Black Canadian woman to become a judge in Canada, and the first black judge in the province of Nova Scotia. Her decision in the case R v S (RD), which was controversially overturned on appeal, was later upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada in a leading decision on reasonable apprehension of bias.
Charles Daniels was a Black Canadian working as a porter supervisor with the CPR at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1914, he launched a $1,000 discrimination lawsuit against the Sherman Grand theatre in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, when the management refused to honour his ticket for floor seating in the whites-only section to see a production of King Lear. Charles Daniels was a civil rights activist that came to the Canadian prairies as part of the poorly documented wave of African-American settlers to Alberta during the early 20th century. His date and place of birth and death are unknown.
The Clarion was a newspaper established in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, by Carrie Best in 1946. It was the third publication in the province owned and published by a Black Canadian, after The Atlantic Advocate established in 1915 and The Nova Scotia Gleaner established in 1929. On the masthead below the newspaper's name was the text "Published in the Interest of Colored Nova Scotians".
Until 1965, racial segregation in schools, stores and most aspects of public life existed legally in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia, and informally in other provinces such as British Columbia. Unlike in the United States, racial segregation in Canada applied to all non-whites and was historically enforced through laws, court decisions and social norms with a closed immigration system that barred virtually all non-whites from immigrating until 1962. Section 38 of the 1910 Immigration Act permitted the government to prohibit the entry of immigrants "belonging to any race deemed unsuited to the climate or requirements of Canada, or of immigrants of any specified class, occupation or character."
