Home | The Black Settlements of Western Canada
The text on this page is an excerpt from The Settlement of Oklahoma Blacks in Western Canada, a report prepared by Michael B. Payne, PhD and commissioned by Parks Canada, Department of Canadian Heritage.Dr. Payne is currently Chief Archivist, City of Edmonton Archives.
The Black Settlements of Western Canada
Howard and Tamara Palmer argue that the history of Blacks in Alberta can be divided into both an urban and a rural experience. By extension this distinction can be extended to Blacks across western Canada. Census records and other local history studies indicate that a number of Blacks had settled in western Canadian cities prior to 1911. There were small communities in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Calgary, while 1911 census records indicate that some 208 Blacks lived in Edmonton. Some of these people had come to western Canada from Oklahoma or other southern states, but others came from the Black communities in Ontario and the Maritimes or from northern American cities.
Interestingly, as the rural communities established by Blacks in western Canada declined in population from the 1920s onwards, the numbers of urban Blacks increased. As a result, the Palmers suggest that the demographic experience of Blacks in western Canada parallels broader societal trends. For example, as Alberta moved from a primarily rural to a largely urban society so too did its Black population. In 1911 approximately 30% of the Blacks in Alberta lived in cities; by 1971 80% of the Black population was urban.1
Note
1 Palmer and Palmer, p. 381.