Home | The Black Settlements of Western Canada | Black Rural Communities in Saskatchewan and Alberta | Campsie

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Campsie

A small black settlement developed at Campsie, near Barrhead Alberta, in 1910. The settlement at Campsie has one important difference from the other rural Black settlements created between 1908 and 1911. The settlement at Campsie was located in area where there were already a significant number of non-Black homesteaders in place. According to the 1921 census about 50 Blacks lived at Campsie or about one-third of the local population.1 Most settled to the north of the local post office and formed a small and very self-contained community, since there were no other Black communities nearby. Perhaps because of their proximity to other settlers, members of the Campsie Black community describe facing overt prejudice in local schools and attempts to keep Black children from attending school. According to the Palmers, however, the most distinctive thing about Campsie was that in 1935 an evangelical church, the Standard Church of America, held a revival meeting in the Campsie area and a number of local Blacks became active members of the faith. One, Andrew Risby, was so moved he became a minister in the church and later preached at Amber Valley and in Calgary. In Calgary, under Risby’s leadership, the Standard Church became the main church for the city’s Black population.2

Campsie was the smallest of the Black settlements in Alberta, and today little remains to reflect this aspect of the community’s history.3

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