Africville

Africville was a small unincorporated community located on the southern shore of Bedford Basin, in the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. During the 20th century, the City of Halifax began to encroach on the southern shores of Bedford Basin, and the community was eventually included as part of the city through municipal amalgamation. Africville was populated entirely by black families from a wide selection of origins. The community and its dwellings were ordered destroyed, and residents evicted during the late 1960s in advance of the opening of the nearby A. Murray MacKay suspension bridge, related highway interchange construction and related Port of Halifax development at Fairview Cove to the west.

History

Settled in earnest after the War of 1812, the community of Africville was officially founded in the 1840s. The community had a population of approximately 400 residents, mostly African. The population did not fluctuate significantly in size or character from its inception to its end; it remained a ramshackle collection of houses. In the late 1850s, the Nova Scotia Railway was built from Richmond to the south, bisecting Africville as the line wound its way along the western shores of Bedford Basin. The Intercolonial Railway, later Canadian National Railways, constructed Basin Yard west of the community and trains ran through the area constantly.

The municipality of Halifax County, and the neighbouring City of Halifax, refused to extend basic utilities such as sanitary water and sewage or street lighting. As the City of Halifax expanded, Africville became a preferred site for all types of undesirable industries and facilities -- prisons, slaughterhouses, even a depository for fecal waste, from nearby Russellville.

In the Halifax Explosion of 1917, elevated land to the south protected Africville from the direct blast and complete destruction which leveled the neighbouring community of Richmond. However the people did suffer considerable damage. Five residents are known to have been killed. Africville received little of the reconstruction and none of the modernization which was invested into other parts of the city after the explosion.

Eviction

Part of Africville is now occupied by a highway interchange that services the A. Murray MacKay Bridge; however, the port development at Fairview Cove did not extend as far east as Africville, leaving the waterfront intact. In light of the controversy surrounding the community, the city of Halifax created Seaview Memorial Park on the site in the 1980s, preserving it from development. Former Africville residents have carried out periodic protests at the park throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including one squattings attempt which lasted over two years.

In May 2005, New Democratic Party of Nova Scotia Member of the Legislative Assembly Maureen MacDonald introduced a bill in the provincial legislature called the Africville Act. The bill calls for a formal apology from the Nova Scotia government, a series of public hearings on the destruction of Africville, and the establishment of a development fund to go towards historical preservation of Africville lands and social development in benefit of former residents and their descendants. Halifax mayor Peter Kelly has offered land, some money and various other services for a replica of the Seaview African United Baptist Church. After the offer was originally made in 2002, the Africville Genealogy Society requested some alterations to the Halifax offer, including additional land and the possibility of building affordable housing near the site. The Africville site has been declared a national historic site.

Other references

Canadian jazz pianist Trevor Mackenzie released the album Ain't No Thing Like a Chicken Wing in 1997 as a tribute to the neighbourhood where his father grew up.

African Canadian singer songwriter Faith Nolan released an album in 1986 called Africville.

Montreal-born jazz pianist Joe Sealy released a CD of original music, Africville Suite, in 1996. It won a Juno Award in 1997. It includes twelve pieces reflecting on places and activities in Africville, where Sealy's father was born. Sealy was working and living in Halifax during the time of the destruction of the community, and began the suite in memory of his father.

In 1998, Eastern Front Theatre produced a play by George Boyd, Consecrated Ground, which fictitiously chronicled the Africville eviction. The story of Africville is also a significant influence on the work of George Elliott Clarke.

In 2007, the Newfoundland metal/hardcore band Bucket Truck released a video for their song "A Nourishment by Neglect", which details the events surrounding the destruction of the Africville community.

Also in 2007, Heritage Canada began funding an independently produced Documentary "Stolen From Africville" [1], Written and directed by well known Canadian activist and performer Neil Donaldson ([2]). Scheduled for a Summer 2008 release, the film follows the lives of those displaced from the Africville community over the course of a year.

External links

• CBC Digital Archives - Africville: Expropriating Nova Scotia's blacks
• Nova Scotia Archives Africville Virtual Exhibit - Gone but Never Forgotten: Bob Brooks' Photographic Portrait of Africville in the 1960s
• STOLEN FROM AFRICVILLE: Broken Homes, Broken Hearts, a documentary on the lives and history of those who lived in the Africville settlement
• Documentary on the History of Africville
• TheCyberKrib.com Interview by Neil Acharya with author Stephen Kimber about fictional novel Reparations: A Story of Africville