Africville Document

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Africville: The Forgotten Community

                Have you ever looked over the landscape as you were coming out of Halifax onto the MacKay Bridge to Dartmouth? You can see a small looking park area that seems out of place compared to the trees and roadway near it, because it is out of the way almost an unnecessary thing to do. Survivors from the American Civil war and the racism from the South fled to Canada to live and create this community. Eventually, the racism came to a event that was seemed as “unbelievable” as they completely removed all of the residents of Africville and relocated them to the suburbs. This is seen as one of biggest act of racism in Nova Scotia’s history and seen as a turn point to pick out during racial fights against the government. The long and hard journey to Africville and the formation of a small community to let the slaves escape to a better place to live was once a self-owned community and had its own government. But, years later to only be trashed and turned into a park by the government, the relocation and movement of the residents of Africville was an unjust action and should never have happened.

            The relocation was an event taking during the late 1960’s; it included all of the Africville community moving to the suburb of Uniacke Square without the agreement of the residents or of them even knowing. The Africville community was a small community that provided services such as: electricity (to some extent), plumbing, water, to their selves. They were a self-made community and they enjoyed life, with having almost no rules or only rules they set for themselves. The government seen them as a problem that must be removed, they tried to passively remove them by each making sewage exits right next to their village or as they did from almost the beginning, cutting services off from them. They made the public see them as they wanted them to see them, as being a problem that must be removed, which is one of the main reasons why they could do this as getting support from the public. They told the people of Africville that they could leave now and pack up and move to where they were going to be relocated to, or they would have to use the law and fine them/jail them for disobeying the government. Most of the Africville residents that even though never in the slightest wanted to move eventually did because they had to. Which some strong hearted ones stayed and prayed in the church, until eventually they tore down the entire village except the church where they eventually were made to come out of by military force. The racism was an unbelievable factor in this act that they did to these people. They hide their racism under the fact that the living conditions were poor so they were “helping” them by moving them, but in reality they were the ones that led them to being in poor conditions in the first place, it was one big plan to remove these survivor’s.