Early settlement

First known as the Campbell Road Settlement,^[5] Africville began as a small, poor, self-sufficient rural community of about 50 people during the 19th century.

The earliest colonial settlement of Africville began with the relocation of Black Loyalists, former slaves from the Thirteen Colonies who escaped from rebel masters and were freed by the British in the course of the American Revolutionary War. The Crown transported them and other Loyalists to Nova Scotia, promising land and supplies for their service. The Crown also promised land and equal rights to refugees of the 1812 War.

In 1836, Campbell Road was constructed, creating an access route along the north side of the Halifax Peninsula.^[6] After starting with the Cornwallis Street Baptist Church in 1832, clergyman Richard Preston established the Seaview African United Baptist Church in Africville in 1849, as one of five others in Halifax: Preston (1842), Beechville (1844), Hammonds Plains (1845), and Dartmouth. Accordingly, Preston, along with Septimus Clarke, are credited as co-founders of the African United Baptist Association, a network of Black Baptist churches throughout Nova Scotia.^[4][7][8]

While the community never officially was established, the first land transaction documented on paper was dated 1848. The first two landowners in Africville were William Arnold and William Brown.^[4] In the late 1850s, the Nova Scotia Railway, later to become the Intercolonial Railway, was built from Richmond to the south, bisecting Africville with the railway's main line along the western shores of Bedford Basin.

The community became known as Africville around 1900.^[5] Many people believed the name came as result of those who lived there having come from Africa; however, this was not the case. One elderly resident of Africville has been quoted as saying "It wasn't Africville out there. None of the people came from Africa...[I]t was part of Richmond (Northern Halifax), just the part where the colour folks lived."^[9] Strangers later moved into Africville to take advantage of its unregulated status, selling illicit liquor and sex, largely to the mass of transient soldiers and sailors passing through Halifax.^[10]

A second railway line appeared in 1906 with the arrival of the Halifax and Southwestern Railway, which connected to the Intercolonial at Africville. The Intercolonial Railway, later Canadian National Railways, constructed Basin Yard west of the community, adding more tracks. Trains ran through the area constantly.

Halifax Explosion

With haphazardly positioned dwellings that ranged from small, well-maintained, and brightly painted homes to tiny ramshackle dwellings converted from sheds, the community had a peak population of 400 at the time of the Halifax Explosion in 1917.^{[11]: 44–45} Elevated land to the south protected Africville from the direct blast of the explosion and the complete destruction that levelled the neighbouring community of Richmond. However, Africville suffered considerable damage. Four Africville residents (as well as one Mi'kmaq woman visiting from Queens County, Nova Scotia) were killed by the explosion.^[12] A doctor on a relief train arriving at Halifax noted Africville residents "as they wandered disconsolately around the ruins of their still standing little homes."^[13]

In the aftermath of the disaster, Africville received modest relief assistance from the city, but none of the reconstruction and none of the modernization invested into other parts of the city at that time.^{[14][page needed]} Beginning in the early 20th century around the Great War, more people had moved there, drawn by jobs in industries and related facilities developed nearby.^{[citation needed]}

Economy

Economically, the first two generations were not prosperous, as labourers had limited opportunities. Many men found employment in low-paying jobs; others worked as seamen or Pullman porters, who would clean and work on train cars. This steady employment on the Pullman cars was considered prestigious at the time, as the men also got to travel and see the country. Only 35% of labourers had regular employment, and 65% of the people worked as domestic servants.^[9]: 17 Women were also hired as cooks, to clean the hospital or prison, and some elderly women were hired to clean upper-class houses.

Education

The community was neglected in terms of education. The city built the first elementary school here in 1883, at the expense of community residents. Being a poor community, none of the teachers up until 1933 had obtained formal training.^[15]: 110 Only 40% of boys and girls received any education at all, as many families needed to have them help with paid work, or by taking care of younger siblings at home so parents could work. Out of the 140 children ever registered, 60 children reached either grade 7 or 8, and only four boys and one girl reached grade 10.^[15]: 111

Church

To understand Africville, "you got to know about the church;"^[9]: 27 the life and heart of the town. The Seaview African United Baptist Church was established at Africville in 1849; it joined with other Black Baptist congregations to establish the African Baptist Association in 1854. The community's social life revolved around the church, which was the place of baptisms, weddings, and funerals. Other Black groups came to Africville for Sunday picnics and events. Everything was done through the church, "clubs, youth organizations, ladies' auxiliary and Bible classes."^[9]: 25

Hockey

The Africville Seasides hockey team, of the pioneering Colored Hockey League (1894–1930), won the championship in 1901 and 1902, beating West End Rangers from Prince Edward Island to retain their title in a 3–2 single game victory in February 1902. The team was led by star goaltender William Carvery, his two brothers on the team, along with three Dixon brothers also on the squad.

Formal relocation and demolition

The formal relocation took place mainly from 1964 to 1967. The residents and their belongings were moved by Halifax garbage trucks. This image were long remembered by the people; they took it to represent the degrading way they were treated before, during, and after the move. Many former residents believe that the city council had no plans to turn Africville into an industrial site and that racism was the basis of the community's destruction. They believe that the city wanted to remove from Halifax a concentrated group of Black people for whom they had no regard. Because of the city's continued negative response to the people of Africville, the community failed to develop, and this failure was then used as a rationale to destroy it.^[20]

There were many hardships, suspicion and jealousy that emerged, mostly due to complications of land and ownership claims. Only 14 residents held clear legal titles to their land. Those with no legal rights were given a $500 payment and promised a furniture allowance, social assistance, and public housing units.^[15]: 67 Young families believed they had enough money to begin a new life, but most of the elderly residents would not budge; they had much more of an emotional connection to their homes. They were filled with grief and felt cheated out of their property. Resistance to eviction became more difficult as residents accepted the buyouts and their homes were demolished.

The city quickly demolished each house as soon as residents moved out. Occasionally the city demolished a house whenever an opportunity presented itself—such as when a resident was in the hospital.^[20] On 20 November 1967, the church at Africville was demolished at night to avoid controversy, a year before the city officially possessed the building.^[21] There is controversy around the documentation, which shows the church was sold in 1968; the page has been edited by hand to forge the sale as a year earlier.^[21][22] Internal city government documents show the demolition order being sent in 1967, with a claim that the building was dangerous.^[21] At the time, it was still in use: residents remember the church being bulldozed in 1967, shortly after the last active service; another service was being planned for the end of the year.^[22][23] It was bulldozed with the vital records of many residents inside, such as birth, marriage, and death records, which could have established chains of custody for land claims.^{[citation needed]}

The last Africville home was demolished on 2 January 1970.^[24]

Aftermath

After relocation to public housing within the city limits, the residents had new problems: cost of living went up in their new homes, more people were unemployed and without regular incomes, none of the promised employment or education programs were implemented, and the city's promises went unfulfilled. "Benefits were so modest as to be virtually irrelevant…within a year and a half this post-relocation program lay in ruins."^[9]: 73

Family strains and debt forced many to rely on public assistance, and anxiety was high among the former residents. One of the big complaints was that "they feel no sense of ownership or pride in the sterile public housing projects."^[25]

Africville apology

In May 2005, New Democratic Party of Nova Scotia MLA Maureen MacDonald introduced a bill in the provincial legislature called the Africville Act. The bill called 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.

On 23 February 2010, the Halifax Council ratified a proposed Africville apology, with an arrangement with the Government of Canada to establish a $250,000 Africville Heritage Trust to design a museum and build a replica of the community church.^[29] The dedicated site was a 1-hectare (2.5-acre) area.^[30] On 24 February 2010, Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly made the Africville Apology, apologizing for the eviction as part of a $4.5 million compensation deal. The City restored the name Africville to Seaview Park at the annual Africville Family Reunion on 29 July 2011.^[31]

Tributes and related media