WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH IN CANADA 2020

 WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH IN CANADA 2020 

 

Murphy Browne © October 20-2020 

 WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH IN CANADA 

“Most women of colour - including Chinese women, "Hindu" or East Indian women, Japanese women - weren't allowed to vote at the provincial and federal level until the late 1940s. And under federal law, aboriginal women covered by the Indian Act couldn't vote for band councils until 1951, and couldn't vote in federal elections until 1960. So, there you go - it wasn't until 1960 that ALL Canadian women finally had the right to vote.”  

 

From article “Women & The Right To Vote In Canada: An Important Clarification” February 26, 2013 

 

Since 1992, October has been designated Women’s History Month in Canada. October was selected to commemorate the “Persons Case” in which the British Privy Council (then Canada’s highest court of appeal) ruled in October 1929 that women were persons under the law, a decision that contradicted an earlier ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada. Five White Canadian women took the case to the British Privy Council and won the right to become members of the Senate. Even after that “victory” not all Canadian women were considered equal.  

 

The “Famous Five” led by Emily Murphy were seemingly oblivious to the fact that there were groups of women in Canada who could not vote or even hope to sit in the Senate. Emily Murphy in her 1922 published book “The Black Candle” made her disdain for racialized people very clear. In her book she attacks “Chinese, Hindus, Mexicans and Negroes” as people unfit to live in Canada. Some people have sought to excuse her White supremacist diatribe as being a product of her time. To give Emily Murphy her due she did fight for the rights of White Canadian women. 

 

When the “Persons Case” was decided in 1929, African Canadians had been free (August 1, 1834) from chattel slavery for 95 years. During slavery in Canada, enslaved African women were property and had no rights; they were brutalized and sold away from their families. In Dr Afua Cooper’s book “The Hanging of Angelique” court documents are used to tell the story of Marie Joseph Angelique, an enslaved African woman who was tortured and hanged in Montreal on June 4, 1734. On March 14, 1793, enslaved African woman Chloe Cooley struggled valiantly to gain her freedom as she was being sold from “Upper Canada” (Ontario) to New York. Her struggle led to John Grave Simcoe’s effort to limit slavery in Upper Canada in 1793. On March 21, 1793, Peter Martin appeared before members of the Executive Council with information about the sale of Chloe Cooley. The members of the Executive Council included Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, Chief Justice William Osgoode and Peter Russell, a prominent citizen and slaveholder. Peter Martin (one of a few free Africans who lived in Ontario) informed the Council that a “violent outrage” had occurred to an enslaved African woman named Chloe Cooley. Martin had witnessed a resident of Queenston named William Vrooman, who “owned” Chloe Cooley, selling her to someone in New York State. When Cooley resisted leaving the province (she fought, she screamed, it took three white men armed with ropes to throw her into a boat) Vrooman forcibly transported her across the Niagara River to her new “owner.”  

 

African Canadian women of later generations including Mary Ann Shadd Cary (first woman newspaper editor in North America) and Viola Desmond whose image is on the Canadian ten dollar bill, are Canadian women whose stories need to be told during Women’s History Month in Canada. African Canadian women have been involved in every area of Canada’s history. Their life stories stand as inspiration to successive generations.  

 

Rosemary Brown was the first African Canadian woman elected to a Canadian provincial legislature. In 1972 Brown was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia and in 1975 she became the first African Canadian woman to run for ​the leadership of a major federal party (NDP) in Canada. Rosemary Brown opened that door in 1975 when she ran for leadership of the NDP and Annamie Paul pushed that door wider and entered in 2020. At the beginning of Women’s History Month, on October 3, 2020, Annamie Paul, an African Canadian activist and lawyer made history as the first African Canadian to be elected leader of a major federal party (Green Party) in Canada. We have come a long way since 1960 when “all Canadian women finally had the right to vote.”  

 

Murphy Browne © October 20-2020

DOCTOR MAE CAROL JEMISON OCTOBER 17-1956

Mae Carol Jemison was born in Decatur, Alabama on October 17, 1956 and celebrated her 64^th birthday on Saturday, October 17, 2020. 

 

Murphy Browne © Sunday, September 12, 2010 

 

DOCTOR MAE CAROL JEMISON 

 On September 12, 1992 Dr. Mae Carol Jemison became the first African American woman and indeed the first racialized woman to travel in outer space. When the space shuttle Endeavour blasted off from its launching pad at the Kennedy Space Centre on its eight day mission (September 12 – 20, 1992) Dr. Jemison was one of the seven member crew on board. 

 

Mae Carol Jemison was born in Decatur, Alabama on October 17, 1956, the third and youngest child of Charlie and Dorothy Jemison. When she was 3 years old the Jemison family moved to Chicago, Illinois. While it takes some people many years to know their purpose, Mae Carol Jemison knew since she was in kindergarten that she wanted to be a scientist. In her 2001 published book Find Where The Wind Goes: Moments From My Life she tells the story of her assertive five year old self correcting her kindergarten teacher who suggested she might want to become a nurse instead of a scientist. It is not surprising that in 1961 a teacher may have been startled by a five year old African American female declaring that she knew that she intended to become a scientist. After all white Americans in southern states (like Alabama where Jemison was born) were still denying African Americans their full rights as American citizens, including the right to vote. African Americans living in Northern states like Illinois where Jemison attended school, although they may not have been prevented from voting, were living in a white supremacist environment. In our modern era of 2010 there are some teachers who continue to have lowered expectations of our children especially if they live in lower income neighbourhoods. 

 

During the time that Jemison attended school (1960s) and unfortunately even today African history is not included in the curriculum as part of world history otherwise everyone who has ever been a student would know that math and science are very much a part of the African experience and history. Contrary to popular opinion, especially during African Heritage Month (February) when we are inundated with stories of the Underground Railroad, our history did not begin with slavery. Stories about the Underground Railroad are usually trotted out when the historical presence of Africans in Canada is acknowledged. We hardly hear any stories about the enslavement of Africans in Canada or their contribution to the building of this country. The history of Africa and Africans includes the Sankore University at Timbuktu in Mali, West Africa (built in the 10th century) where students studied mathematics and the sciences. The Ishango bone estimated to be about 22,000 years old and considered the world's oldest known mathematical artifact comes from the Congo although not surprisingly it is housed in Brussels (capital city of Belgium) at the Royal Institute for Natural Sciences of Belgium. The Belgians, during the scramble for Africa, claimed and colonized the Congo until its independence on June 30, 1960, but Belgium has never completely loosened its hold on the Congo. Mathematics has its roots in Africa where Africans used algebra, geometry, trigonometry etc., in their daily lives so an African American child or African Canadian child who excels in math and science ought not to be viewed with surprise or considered an anomaly: “a credit to their race.” 

 

Mae Carol Jemison who would grow up to make history by becoming the first African American woman astronaut excelled at science but also loves to dance and even speaks four languages (English, Japanese, Kiswahili and Russian.) The upheavals in the American society as African Americans struggled to assert their human rights, the trials and tribulations of the times touched the lives of the Jemison family. In “Find Where The Wind Goes: Moments From My Life” Jemison writes about being angry, confused and scared as she watched the National Guard march through her predominantly African-American neighbourhood with guns held “at the ready.” Jemison writes: “I knew that as a ten-year-old black girl that I was not precious to these adults. I believed they would kill me as readily as they would kill the Vietnamese we were at war with. It didn’t matter that I was a United States citizen. It didn’t matter that I was very smart, would probably grow up to be pretty like my mother, or that I was fun to talk to, and had unlimited potential. It didn’t matter that I was a good girl and hadn’t been suspended from school. It didn’t matter because I didn’t matter to them. These adults, these representatives, enforcers of the United States government would hold me in suspicion and probably shoot me if I was out on the street.” 

She promised herself she would never feel that frightened again. "I reminded myself that I was as much a part of this United States as the guardsmen," she writes. Jemison kept that promise to herself, excelling as a student who at 16 years old entered Stanford University on a scholarship and four years later graduated with two degrees, a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts degree in African and African-American Studies. She attended Cornell Medical College where she earned her Doctorate in Medicine and developed an interest in working to help people in developing countries travelling to Cuba, Kenya, Thailand and a Cambodian Refugee Camp. A few years after graduating from medical school she worked as a Peace Corps medical officer in Sierra Leone and Liberia where she also taught and did medical research. 

 

In October 1985 after returning to the USA from Africa, Jemison applied for admission to the astronaut training program at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Challenger disaster of January 28, 1986 delayed the selection process, but a year later she was one of 15 selected from approximately 2,000 applicants. When she was chosen in June 1987, Jemison became the first African American woman admitted into the astronaut training program. When she blasted off to space on September 12, 1992 it was with the title of Science Mission Specialist. Her kindergarten teacher probably remembered Mae Carol Jemison who had insisted in 1961 that she would become a scientist. 

 

Murphy Browne © Sunday, September 12, 2010 

 

PAUL BOGLE OCTOBER 11-1865

 Murphy Browne © October 11, 2020 

 

PAUL BOGLE OCTOBER 11, 1865 

 

Said it was 96 degrees, in the shade 

Ten thousand soldiers on parade 

Taking I and I to meet a big fat boy 

Sent from overseas, the queen employ 

Excellency, before you I come 

With my representation 

You know where I'm coming from 

 

You caught me on the loose 

Fighting to be free 

Now you show me a noose 

On the cotton tree 

Entertainment for you 

Martyrdom for me 

 

Some may suffer and some may burn 

But I know that one day 

My people will learn 

As sure as the sun shines 

Way up in the sky 

Today I stand here a victim 

The truth is I'll never die 

 

Excerpt from “96 Degrees in The Shade” by Third World. 

The song “96 Degrees in The Shade” tells the story of Paul Bogle and the “Morant Bay Rebellion” of October, 1865. Paul Bogle was an African Jamaican social justice activist who led a group of protesters against the British colonizers in Morant Bay on October 11, 1865. The recently freed Africans (August 1, 1838) were protesting their working conditions, racism and social discrimination. They had suffered epidemics, flooding and crop failure. The protest march included hundreds of disenfranchised and disgruntled Africans from Stony Gut (a few miles north of Morant Bay) who marched to the Morant Bay Court House on October 11, 1865. They were protesting the injustice and oppression to which they were subjected by the colonizing British ruling class. They were oppressed in various ways and were required to pay poll taxes to have the right to vote. At that time there were only 104 voters in the parish of St. Thomas; the majority were not eligible to vote and had no voice. 

 

The British met the protesters with military force, sending out members of their volunteer militia against the protesters. Seven protestors were shot and killed by the volunteer militia, the protesters retaliated and burned the courthouse and nearby buildings. A total of 25 people on both sides were killed on October 11, 1865. Over the next two days, African Jamaicans rose up in revolt and took control of the parish of St Thomas.  

 

The governor quickly retaliated, declaring martial law and ordering troops to capture the revolutionaries and suppress the revolution. The British troops destroyed Stony Gut, killing more than 400 men, women and children. They arrested more than 300 revolutionaries. Bogle was betrayed, captured, tried under martial law and executed on October 24, 1865, along with many others. The British colonial authorities hanged Bogle on October 24, 1865 at the Morant Bay courthouse. 

 

Bogle was named a national hero by the Jamaican Government in 1969. His image appears on the Jamaican 10 cent coin and he was also depicted on the Jamaican two-dollar bill, from 1969 until 1989, when the two-dollar bill was phased out. The Paul Bogle High School in St. Thomas parish is named in his honour. 

 

The memory of Paul Bogle is immortalized in song by various artists including Bob Marley and the Wailers, Burning Spear, Brigadier Jerry, The Cimarons, Steel Pulse, Prince Far I, Lauryn Hill and General Trees. In "So Much Things to Say," Bob Marley sang: "I'll never forget no way they turned their backs on Paul Bogle, so don't you forget no youth who you are and where you stand in the struggle." 

 

In 1977, the members of the band “Third World” sang in tribute to Paul Bogle’s October 11, 1865 bravery and leadership:  

“Some may suffer and some may burn 

But I know that one day 

My people will learn 

As sure as the sun shines 

Way up in the sky 

Today I stand here a victim 

The truth is I'll never die” 

 

Murphy Browne © October 11, 2020 

MARY ANN SHADD-CARY OCTOBER 9-1823

 Murphy Browne © October 9-2020 

 

MARY ANN SHADD-CARY OCTOBER 9-1823 

 

One hundred and ninety-seven years ago on October 9, 1823, Mary Ann Shadd was born in Wilmington, Delaware. She was the eldest of 13 children born to Abraham Doras Shadd and Harriet Burton Parnell. The Shadd family were free African Americans living in a slave holding America. When it became illegal to educate African American children in the state of Delaware, the Shadd family moved to Pennsylvania, where Mary Ann attended a Quaker school. In 1840, after being away at school, Mary Ann returned to West Chester and established a school for African American children. She also later taught in Norristown, Pennsylvania, and New York City. 

 

When the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 in the United States threatened to return free northern African Americans and those who had escaped slavery back into bondage, Shadd and her brother Isaac moved to Canada and settled in Windsor, Ontario. In Windsor, she established a school and published an anti-slavery newspaper called “The Provincial Freeman,” in 1853 which made her the first female editor in North America. She encouraged African Americans to leave the United States and immigrate to Canada. On March 24, 1853 “The Provincial Freeman” a weekly newspaper was first printed. Mary Ann Shadd’s name did not appear as the editor of the newspaper because of the accepted sexism of the time in which she lived. The motto of “The Provincial Freeman” was “Self-Reliance Is the True Road to Independence.” The newspaper was co-edited by formerly enslaved African Samuel Ringgold Ward. Ward’s family had escaped enslavement when he was a three-year-old in 1820, fleeing from Maryland and lived in Greenwich, New Jersey until 1826 before moving to New York. 

 

 

“The Provincial Freeman” survived until 1857 published from various locations in Ontario. It was first published in Windsor (1853–1854,) Toronto (1854–1855) and Chatham (1855–1857.) The newspaper was closed with issue number 49, published on August 22, 1857. During the life of “The Provincial Freeman” Shadd encouraged emigration to Canada by publicizing the success of African Canadians living in freedom in Canada. Slavery in Canada had been abolished 16 years (August 1, 1834) before the US passed the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 which put even the freedom of African Americans living in Free states at risk. “The Provincial Freeman” was noted for “its militant editorial policy.” One description was that the: “paper's tone -- toward Uncle Tom's Cabin and white America generally -- was a lot more aggressively critical than most African Americans living in the North at this time, including Frederick Douglass, allowed themselves to be.” Mary Ann Shadd was unapologetically outspoken against the enslavement of Africans.  

 

In 1856 Mary Ann Shadd married African Canadian businessman Thomas Cary who passed away in 1860. Thomas Cary and his brothers (George, Isaac and John) like Mary Ann Shadd were free born African Americans who chose to move to Canada since slavery had been abolished in Canada on August 1, 1834. The couple had a son and a daughter. 

 

Following the closing of “The Provincial Freeman” on August 22, 1857, Shadd Cary returned to the USA during the Civil War to help in the war effort. She was hired by Martin Robison Delany as a recruiting officer for the Union Army encouraging African Americans to join the fight against the Confederacy and against slavery. Martin Robison Delany was the only African American who received the rank of Major during the Civil War. After the Civil War ended, Shadd Cary attended one of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Howard University from where she earned a law degree in 1883 when she was 60 years old! 

 

Mary Ann Shadd Cary transitioned to the ancestral realm on June 5, 1893 in Washington, DC. She is remembered as a pioneering newspaper editor, abolitionist, educator, lawyer, feminist and suffragist. The Mary Ann Shadd Cary House (where she lived from 1881 to 1885) located at 1421 W Street, NW in Washington, DC. was declared a National Historic Landmark on December 8, 1976 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1987 Mary Ann Shadd was designated a Women's History Month Honoree by the National Women's History Project, an American non-profit organization dedicated to honoring and preserving women's history. She was honoured by Canada, as a Person of National Historic Significance on November 24, 1994.  

 

Murphy Browne © October 9-2020