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 “You can’t complain and not do anything about it.”

The scene showing the student speaker at the large rally in the outdoor arena called forth the memory of the civil rights movement and the important part that Black youth played in that struggle.  The incidents of racism that led to the peace and justice rally that snaked through Halifax streets in the summer of 1993 demonstrated that the fight for fundamental equality and dignity was far from over. Rallies also took place in other Canadian cities including Montreal and Toronto where communities of colour were also experiencing racial discrimination. The student organizers learned from their own cultural history and believed their actions could make a difference.

FILM:  Black Mother Black Daughter

“Discrimination starts there in the home.”

The main theme of this film is the inter-connection of family, church and community and the role played by African Nova Scotian women in these spheres. For generations African Canadians have sought to create positive, nurturing environments for their children, in spite of the racism and discrimination they experienced.

The African Baptist Church played a unique role in the development of Black communities and Black people in Nova Scotia. Each small rural community had its own church, the first of which, Cornwallis Street Baptist, was established in 1832 in Halifax. Throughout Nova Scotia, African Baptist Churches have been the communal focal point, serving the spiritual, cultural, social and educational needs of children, youth and adults.

Church and community leaders such as Dr. Pearleen Oliver featured in the film and Dr. Marie Hamilton, who was also a school teacher, were at the forefront of the struggle to combat racial discrimination. In the 1940s Dr. Oliver led the fight to remove the colour bar from the nursing profession; Black women were routinely rejected when they applied to nursing school. Dr. Marie Hamilton’s first career choice was nursing but she had to enter Teacher’s College because of this colour bar.

Both women believed firmly in the importance of using all experiences, even the most negative, to teach understanding and to oppose behaviours and actions that were discriminatory and that attempted to strip African people of their dignity. 

In the Hamilton family, my mother Marie was known for her many stories drawn from personal experiences. She told these stories to her family, in workshops, conferences and in her early childhood development work where she taught classes of pre-school teachers and workers. During the interview for Black Mother Black Daughter, she told a number of these stories, one which is featured in the selected segment. It became known as the ‘boy on the bike story.’ 

On the surface, it appears to be a simple story: a mother is trying with little success to convince her child to obey. Seeing my mother, she immediately told the child if he did not get off his bike as she asked him to, “that woman is going to take you.” Two critical facts about the situation transform it into a significant encounter for all involved. The mother and boy-child were both white, my mother, African Canadian. The mother’s behaviour fell into an age-old pattern of equating a Black person with negativity and fear. One of the greatest fears of young children is the loss of parents. Imagine what the small child must have thought when his mother, the person he felt closest to, told him that the Black woman would take him away. Whether intentional or not, the mother’s actions presented her impressionable child with a very negative perspective of Black people, and Black women in particular. 

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