Africville

Instructions:

Textbook = Towards Freedom

1. Read pages 120 to 122.

2. Answer questions #1 to 7 on Africville that are located on the hand-out with the map of NS.

You have 15 minutes to complete the questions!

Answers

1. Where was Africville located?

- North end of Halifax, NS

- Beside the MacKay Bridge at the edge of the Bedford Basin

Answers

2. When and how did Africville form?

- 1848

- Through a Land Purchase

Answers

3. What was the base of the community?

- The Seaview Baptist Church

Answers

4. How were the people of Africville industrious?

- They worked as labourers and in service jobs in Halifax

- Halifax stonemasons helped construct many of Halifax’s public buildings

- Worked on ships and at the ship yard.

Answers

5. Why was land expropriated from the community in the 1850’s?

- Railroad tracks and sewage disposal pits were located there.

Africville

6. What did the city council locate just a “stone’s throw away” in the mid-1950s?

- A large dump

Answers

7. Why did city council vote to expropriate Africville in 1964?

- In the name of “urban renewal”

- They believed that Africville was slums and there was an article in a newspaper calling it a black ghetto.

NotesThese are located on the handout with the questions #1 to 7

- Majority of the residents were descendents of the black refugees from the War of 1812.

- It was initially known as Campbell Road, but because the residents were black it was changed to Africville

- Although the residents paid the city taxes, there was a lack of basic services such as sewers, running water and paved roads

- It became the home to Rockland Prison (1853), an infectious disease hospital (1870s), a trachoma hospital (1905) and a slaughter house.

Notes

• Residents were given $500 to relocate

• They owned there homes in Africville, but were moved to public housing and had to pay rent. This caused a lot to go on welfare.

• They were moved in City dump trucks

• The two main areas they were moved to were: Uniacke Square and Mulgrave Park

Notes

• It is now a national historic site known as Seaview Memorial Park

Africville

Homework

Hand-out

You are a resident of Africville who has been asked to relocate. Write a letter to the City Council asking them to keep Africville instead of destroying it. You must defend your argument by using examples.

length = app. 150 to 200 words