Emancipation Day. Natasha L. Henry

       Exploring the Meaning of Emancipation Day

      Let me be a free man — free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I chose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think and talk act for myself.

      — Highn’moot Tooyalaket (Chief Joseph) of the Nez Perces, “An Indian’s View of Indian Affairs,” 1879.

      With Emancipation Day celebrations in Canada attracting hundreds and thousands of people annually, extensive preparations were required to ensure a smooth-running event. Planning began months in advance. Commemorative events were very large in scale and drew a huge number of people from all facets of society. Attendees were of all ages and from different social groups, many of whom travelled long distances to attend.

      Guests of various Emancipation Day events came from across the provinces, including Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and British Columbia. During the nineteenth century, participants from surrounding locales travelled by horse and carriage, ferry, steamboat, train, and later by car, alternating visits to different Emancipation Day celebrations to show support. More visitors came from neighbouring American cities such as Detroit, Michigan, Cincinnati, Ohio, and cities in New York State such as Buffalo, Utica, and Rochester, and generally from across North America, from as far as Louisville, Kentucky, and Chicago, Illinois, as well as the states of Georgia and Alabama. All travelled primarily by steamboat or train. Those from America used this time as an opportunity to visit with family who lived in the host town and other nearby areas while showing solidarity with their brothers and sisters in the north. Generally, the numbers of attendees were quite large, often greater than the total number of the Black population in the host town. While the majority of the attendees were Blacks, celebrations were also supported by a considerable number of Whites.

      Local mainstream and Black newspapers provided elaborate coverage of Emancipation Day celebrations from their inception throughout the early twentieth century. The reporters would give in-depth descriptions of the social events, quote the speeches delivered by Black and White luminaries, and highlight how well the gatherers conducted themselves. Advertisements for Emancipation Day events were posted in regional newspapers and letters to editors and commentary from the general public relating to Emancipation Day were published. The African-Canadian press often used the occasion of Emancipation Day to discuss the challenges faced by its community and to bolster support and strength to tackle these issues.

      Although Emancipation Day events were celebratory in nature with many social functions, several serious themes were consistently part of the event. First and foremost was the theme of liberation for enslaved Africans in British colonies in the West Indies and North America, including Canada, and the ongoing fight for freedom for those who remained in bondage in the United States and other parts of the Caribbean. Another issue was the change in the status that had been forced upon Blacks for hundreds of years. With the passing of the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833, people of African descent in British territories were no longer chattel property, but were now officially recognized as persons entitled to the same rights and privileges as White European citizens. A third theme was appreciation and gratitude for Canada’s assistance to Black refugees and other Black colonists. Allegiance was pledged to Britain for the civil rights and privileges bestowed upon Blacks. Remembrance was also a strong theme — not forgetting the past experiences of those who were enslaved and carrying the torch to continue the struggle for equality. An equally important element of emancipation Day observances was the importance of charting a course for the future of Canada’s Black citizens.

      The invention of this African-Canadian tradition occurred at the same time that the creation of the Dominion of Canada was in the making. Black men and women were seeking to forge a new individual and collective identity and create a unique sense of heritage within early Canada’s British-influenced society. This vision of a new identity and heritage meshed African, British, Caribbean, and American elements together with their new citizenship. Throughout the years, Emancipation Day celebrations were used to make statements about the African-Canadian collective identity to the Blacks themselves, to the province, and to the nation. In the mid-1800s, issues of equal rights and discrimination quickly surfaced for some of British North America’s Black settlers, causing Emancipation Day traditions to become not only a form of cultural expression but a political demonstration as well.

      The celebrations became important to the African-Canadian community for various reasons and served many functions, which changed over time. There was a mix of the traditional celebration components such as historical commemoration, education for all participants, community development, and entertainment. As noted, the most central themes of these events were freedom and change, which in and of themselves would come to mean different things at different times. The “first freedom” celebrated was the emancipation from chattel slavery. Freedom, and its pursuit, was at the core of understanding the historical viewpoint of people of African descent; they had been legally held as property for over 330 years in the Caribbean, over 240 years in the United States, and over 220 years in Canada. The attainment of freedom meant new possibilities. African Canadians believed they could pursue any opportunity they wanted, travel freely within Canada, reunite with their families on free soil, legally marry, vote, and obtain an education for their children. They celebrated the ideas of equality and justice that not only were they entitled to under British law for themselves in the present, but also the same ideals that meant universal rights for all people in the future.

      However, African Canadians would soon see that emancipation was just the beginning of the fight for the full rights and privileges that came along with their new-found citizenship. Over the decades, freedom remained a recurring theme and would take many forms and hold different meanings. Each new generation would engage in a liberation struggle because they felt they were still held in bondage by the daily realities of racial discrimination — the lack of job opportunities, the reality of less pay for equal work, the denial of housing and public education, their being banned from public facilities, and other injustices because of their race. Therefore, full emancipation remained a constant pursuit in their ongoing efforts to remove these barriers to equality.

      On one hand, Emancipation Day commemorations were a serious time, a moment to reflect on the experience of the enslaved African in the Western world and the triumphs over slavery, and to place the history of Africans in the larger context of Canadian historical narrative. On the other hand, it was also an opportunity to strengthen the growing African-Canadian communities through shaping the social, political, racial, and economical consciousness of African Canadians