The Evolution of Emancipation Day
Freedom is a precious thing, and the inalienable birthright of all who travel this earth.
— Paul Robeson, Born of the People, 1953.
Over time the meaning and importance of Emancipation Day continued to evolve. In fact, the event has changed continuously over its 177-year history. The tone and focus of Emancipation Day celebrations have been influenced not only by local matters, but also by various provincial, national, and international factors affecting people of African origin. Tracing the development and evolution of Emancipation Day in Canada mirrors the African-Canadian community’s struggle for equal rights: first through the abolition movement of the nineteenth century, then through the fight for equality and complete civil rights — a movement that lasted from the mid-1850s through to the 1960s with Martin Luther King.
Past Emancipation Day observances have embodied these differing civil rights movements. However, in the early 1900s festivities became more removed from their commemorative, educational, and political purposes that made August First such an integral institution in the African-Canadian community. The relationship between Blacks and the recognition of emancipation was heading in a new direction, focusing more on social gatherings featuring amusements and having a good time.
Blacks were being drawn to new forms of mass entertainment in the early twentieth century such as dance halls, vaudeville, amusement parks, nickelodeons, and movie houses, even though they did not always gain admission or were restricted to particular days, times, and seating. Several entertainment establishments began to compete for the attention, money, and attendance of Blacks. In response, Emancipation Day planning committees became creative and began to incorporate more recreation and leisure activities to keep their patrons, including beauty pageants, popularity contests, tugs-of-war, baseball games, boxing matches, and various skill competitions and races. Because mainstream culture was not fully accessible to Blacks, these added features to August First celebrations provided an opportunity for men, women, and children of African descent to socialize and showcase their talents. Along with the new predominant theme of enjoyment at Emancipation Day observances came an increase in the consumption of alcohol and gambling, now generally regarded as more socially acceptable activities across the broader spectrum of Canadian society.
Very little, if any, liquor was served at Emancipation Day gatherings during the 1800s as most adhered to the temperance principles prevalent during that era. Many people from all racial and social groups either completely abstained from drinking alcohol, or did not consume spirits but allowed some consumption of wine. Temperance organizations were formed to speak out against the excessive use of alcohol and to pressure different levels of government to pass anti-alcohol laws. At the 1835 commemoration in St. Catharines, “they drank water, the greater part being members of the Temperance Society,” and the “Toasts were given … from excellent Port wine — no spirits being allowed.”1
Temperance was a recurring theme among African Canadians in social settings and in the Canadian Black newspapers. In their article, John McKivigan and Jason Silverman explain: “The organizers of the Emancipation Day celebrations strove to ensure that the behaviour of blacks at the festivities would be exemplary so to make a favourable impression on the white public.”2 They point out that African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass recognized the magnitude of this element of the celebrations: “If these occasions are conducted wisely, decorously, and orderly, they increase our respectability in the eyes of the world, and silence the slander of prejudice.”3 Living by temperance principles helped Blacks display a respectable presence in mainstream society and was also regarded as a mark of racial advancement.
By the early 1900s the less-than sober conduct of Black and White celebrants at Emancipation Days in Essex and Kent counties was becoming unacceptable, so much so that local Black leaders like Pastor E.E. Thompson of the First Baptist Church publicly criticized the increasingly drunken behaviour. An article in a local newspaper described that when the crowd assembled to commemorate Emancipation, “At times the bars were lined five and six deep.”4 In 1911, Charles Hurst, a man of African descent, was charged with killing fifty-year old Thomas Brown, a White man, at a demonstration in Tecumseh Park. Hurst was accused of beating Brown to death over bad whisky.5
Opposition from the religious community had grown so strong by 1912 that a group of ministers formed an association and petitioned the Sandwich town council to ban the upcoming Emancipation Day. But the local politicians declined to side with the group that year because of the large amount of money the Emancipation Day festival brought into the town. Excessive drinking resulted in an upsurge of physical altercations, sometimes with deadly results. More and more people were being arrested.
Gambling, which was a major part of August First holidays in Windsor by 1900, became a growing problem. That year, a reporter said, gambling fakirs attracted more people than the sporting activities. In 1905 Clarence Mason, the mayor of Sandwich, issued orders that no gambling would be permitted and instructed police to arrest anyone who set up gambling operations. In 1912 at least five people were arrested for shooting craps on park grounds at Lagoon Park, but despite efforts of law enforcement, “crap game promoters did a flourishing business.”6 Even children were being enticed to gamble. Citizens who opposed the seemingly widespread “loose” conduct called the festivities in southwestern Ontario “orgies.” These new inclusions of dubious repute were corrupting the original nature of Emancipation Day.
Such compromising activities also contributed to a change in the newspaper coverage. Up until the late 1800s the reports of Emancipation Day used more positive descriptive language such as “orderly,” “a superior class of a race,” “well-behaved citizens,” and “conducted themselves in a model fashion.” As Frederick Douglass feared, the increase in bawdy behaviour diminished White peoples’ view of African-Canadian decorum and reinforced existing racial stereotypes. The writers for some mainstream papers, and in that region of Ontario it was primarily the Windsor papers, frequently used derogatory, stereotypical phrases to describe an African-Canadian crowd: “little darkies,” “The chicken coops of Essex and Kent countries have suffered materially.”7 A few papers also referred to Black men as “boys.” The clean image of Emancipation Day observers had become tarnished in the public eye, the rowdy behaviour of some being generalized to all.
After the turn of the twentieth century, celebrations were less racially mixed in the centres that continued to recognize August First. In his analysis of the annual event, Colin McFarquhar argues that “Emancipation Day seemed to pull Blacks and Whites apart more than it brought them together especially in the years after 1900,”8 a shift that can be attributed to several social factors. For one, by the 1840s and 1850s the support of Whites for African-Canadian issues had decreased. The abolition of American slavery saw the general disappearance of White advocates of human rights in Canada. There was a division in the interpretation of Black’s post-slavery experience, a division that became increasingly evident in the speeches delivered at Emancipation day assemblies.
White speakers did not acknowledge the prejudice and racism faced by Blacks, but instead highlighted the opportunities they had and should take advantage of. McFarquhar contends that some Whites held the sentiment that as long as people of African descent were no longer enslaved they had nothing to complain about. Hence, there was a disagreement on what constituted full equality. Also, with the end of slavery there was less White assistance in organizing events. Again, perhaps they believed that it was not necessary to mobilize for the cause of Black rights. Coupled with this is the fact that when fugitives became more settled in their new environment and were better able to work together they were able to exercise more control over the cultural traditions that were meaningful to them.
Although there was a decrease in their participation, Whites still attended Emancipation Day and were always welcome. Invitations in newspaper ads and notices from the organizing committees were extended to the general public, including White Canadians. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the involvement of Whites was limited largely to that of spectator, with only the occasional speaker. Whites participated in the cakewalks and sometimes a White baseball team played against a Black team, but they were not always included in sporting contests. The division of Blacks and Whites in relationship to Emancipation Day mirrored their separation in the larger society. They established and attended separate cultural institutions including churches, schools, lodges, and benevolent societies, and for the most part lived separately. White involvement in Emancipation Day shifted and was no longer always in a supportive role.
A portion of the conflicts at Emancipation Day commemorations were altercations precipitated by Whites. At the 1859 event in Brantford, “a number of whites, to their disgrace be it said, undertook to ‘cut up dog’ amongst the colored people, and created quite a disturbance. The fire bell was rung by some blackguard, who thought it no doubt a joke. This caused a stampede, and as order could not be restored, the meeting was unceremoniously broken up.”9 In Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1867 a group of White hooligans attacked the Black celebrants on their way to the evening banquet and, “the few policemen in neighbourhood were powerless against the mob who seemed perfectly lawless and determined to resist authority.”10 At Windsor’s observance in 1913, “A number of white persons stood outside and made things unpleasant for the celebrants.”11
During the Depression era of the 1930s, Walter Perry, the organizer of the Windsor’s huge August First anniversaries, took on the task of trying to transform the Windsor and Essex County’s commemorations to its former level of esteem and to “plan an Emancipation Celebration which would be a credit to the race.”12 Through a sophisticated level of planning, organization, and coordination, Perry and the British American Association of Coloured Brothers of Ontario (BAACB) revolutionized the event into the three-day affair coined the “Greatest freedom show on earth.” Their efforts proved successful in restoring Emancipation Day to its historic public calibre. As in the past, celebrations “… began with a sunrise service, followed by a parade, complete with marching bands … into the sixty-three acre Jackson Park with its imposing stadium and its bandstand.”13 Government officials and notable community leaders of both races from Windsor and Detroit addressed the audience. The crowd was treated to musical performances covering all genres and other forms of entertainment including skills demonstrations and various sporting games. A grand picnic and barbecue served as the communal feast.14
Another factor impacting on the evolution of Emancipation Day in Canada was the emergence of a Black middle class. As the years passed, the people with a personal connection to physical slavery disappeared and there was no longer a fugitive group. Education made social mobility possible and the contested interpretations of the slave experience evident in the nationwide celebrations altered the role that the memory of slavery played in the annual holiday. From the early 1900s, and arguably still today, African Canadians have been in pursuit of a new freedom, emancipation from mental slavery, an agenda immortalized in the words of Bob Marley in his lyrics for Redemption Song.15 Marley’s words originated from a speech delivered by Pan Africanist leader Marcus Garvey in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1937, in which he says:
We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery because whilst others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind. Mind is your only ruler, sovereign. The man who is not able to develop and use his mind is bound to be a slave of the other man who uses his mind, because man is related to man under all circumstances for good or ill.16
Garvey toured Canada, visiting several branches of the international organization named the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), including branches in Sydney, Nova Scotia; Toronto; and Montreal. He also fuelled the establishment of new branches. The aim of the formation of the UNIA was to provide a space in which Blacks could work cohesively to improve their social, political, and economic conditions; to address matters of concern to them locally and globally; and to foster racial pride. The UNIA has also participated in Emancipation Day Celebrations in Canada. Bertrand Joseph Spencer Pitt, the organizer of the “Big Picnic” in St. Catharines, was the president and attorney for the Toronto branch, who collectively played a role in the organization of the event. Additionally, the UNIA branch in Montreal has taken the initiative to renew Emancipation Day celebrations in that city. Marcus Garvey himself was a supporter of Emancipation Day commemorations. B.W. Higman briefly discusses Marcus Garvey’s opinion on Emancipation Day and his endeavour to make the holiday “a sacred and holy day … a day of blessed memory.”17 According to the social issues of the time, Emancipation Day served as a political tool as well, a role that changed in each successive generation. It shifted from opposing segregation in public spaces and obtaining suffrage to equal employment access.
The issue of reparations also has a close relationship with Emancipation Day. The occasion was the opportune moment to raise the debate about whether or not or what form of compensation the descendants of enslaved Africans in all former English colonies were entitled to from the British government. Many took the position that Britain should pay some form of damages for the free labour they benefitted from and for the brutal, inhumane discrimination the system imposed on Blacks. The matter is also very relevant not only to African Canadians who were the descendants of slaves, but also to the wrongfully displaced Black citizens who lived in places like Hogan’s Alley in Vancouver, British Columbia, and in Africville, a community once in the northern part of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
With the passing of the years much of the old-time formality and ceremony disappeared from these freedom festivals. In particular, August First events had lost their original educational and political functions of memorializing African ancestors, teaching about Black history, forcing social change, confronting racial discrimination, and furthering Blacks’ struggles for full citizenship and equal rights. Coupled with the outward migration of a significant segment of the African-Canadian population, this led to the eventual termination of some observances. Interestingly, however, in some centres today, such as the Owen Sound Emancipation Day event, more attention is being paid to incorporating education on African-Canadian history into the activities while retaining the more traditional family-style character of the day, including services in the now renovated BME church.
On the whole, celebrations have been and continue to be reflective of the perspectives and experiences of Blacks and of Canadian society, while showcasing the diversity of African-Canadian culture.