I had a great time at SMU last week, digging through box after box of newspaper clippings, minutes posters, and brochures related to well over forty years of civil rights, labour and social justice struggles here in Nova Scotia and beyond. Lynn Jones has scissors, and she isn’t afraid to use them. Eighteen boxes of documentation have found a home at the St Mary’s archives.
Call it rural gentrification. Lucasville, an African Nova Scotian community near Lower Sackville with a proud 200-year history is slowly being erased. But this time at least we have some good news to report. It appears that the stubborn issue of shrinking community boundaries will finally be addressed.
The provincial government is only halfheartedly supporting Black History Month in PEI, says a resident. The Black community on the Island could really use the help. ““The white islanders here need to hear that this is a community that is important and vibrant.”
Eternal Life: Preserving the Memory of Beechville is a reflective look at how one African Nova-Scotian community is coping with urban sprawl encroaching on its borders. Following the war of 1812, a group of freed slaves settled in Beechville, Nova Scotia as refugees escaping the United States. Almost two centuries later, as urbanization threatens many of Canada’s rural communities, Beechville itself is being swallowed up.
The community of Lucasville, founded by Black Refugees, is slowly being erased. A large and smelly equestrian farm is the latest nail in its coffin.