A few years ago I wrote about the Underground Railroad and I mentioned a neighbour’s name as I had remembered several of his passionate conversations about local black history at my Dad’s home on Miltimore Road in Bromont. Hank Avery and his wife Linda were teachers at a local school in Cowansville, Quebec at the time and after my Father died I never saw them again.
Years passed and by this time I was living in Oakland, California where I was now a minority in an East Bay neighbourhood. In those days I didn’t write about history, but mostly about social injustice and daily crime in an area that was 85% black and 15% white. But I often thought of Hank as I wrote different essays because I finally understood what he was talking about.
Yesterday …show more content…
At its base lies a disturbing reminder of a rural community’s past as black slaves were buried there from 1794 until slavery was abolished in 1833.
The former black community is a sensitive subject to some of the townsfolk and many of Saint-Armand’s older residents still recall stories from their parents, or from their childhood. Of course there are some that call the former black-community stories just folklore, and if the stories are true- well to them it’s all dead and buried now. But what about the farmer who bought the former Luke homestead in the 1950s and discovered human remains when he was plowing the mound at the foot of the rock? Doesn’t that count for something?
Of course with an abandoned “black chapel” and burial ground there had to be a community somewhere since the census of 1851 recorded no fewer than 283 black residents in the area. Where did they all live? Where did they go? What happened to them? An account book from the first store in the area lists the names of black men among its customers: “John the Black Man,” for example, and there are many others. A 1908 publication belonging to the Brome Missisquoi Historical Society also a refers to “the St. Armand Negro Burying …show more content…
Other archival records refer to the cemetery as being on the farm, but small-town politics and the strong resistance of the landowner have thwarted Mr. Avery’s and others efforts.
So what happened to this original African American Community? No one is certain how many slaves laboured for Colonel Luke, or when they died, but estimates are that as many as 30 were buried on the former Luke property. I am positive they probably formed their own community and became active members in the building and opening up of the Eastern Township region of Quebec. They worked, lived and celebrated as equals, and some in the local area are probably even descended from this former black community. So why is this area and the rock not recognized historically?
Today we are a few days away from 2017 and Don Phillips is still fighting to get the area formally recognized as a historical site. After days of researching I cannot find out any other mention of Hank Avery, the former elementary school teacher who first visited the burial ground in 1996 and was outraged when he realized there were no markers on it. What happened to Mr.
Years passed and by this time I was living in Oakland, California where I was now a minority in an East Bay neighbourhood. In those days I didn’t write about history, but mostly about social injustice and daily crime in an area that was 85% black and 15% white. But I often thought of Hank as I wrote different essays because I finally understood what he was talking about.
Yesterday …show more content…
At its base lies a disturbing reminder of a rural community’s past as black slaves were buried there from 1794 until slavery was abolished in 1833.
The former black community is a sensitive subject to some of the townsfolk and many of Saint-Armand’s older residents still recall stories from their parents, or from their childhood. Of course there are some that call the former black-community stories just folklore, and if the stories are true- well to them it’s all dead and buried now. But what about the farmer who bought the former Luke homestead in the 1950s and discovered human remains when he was plowing the mound at the foot of the rock? Doesn’t that count for something?
Of course with an abandoned “black chapel” and burial ground there had to be a community somewhere since the census of 1851 recorded no fewer than 283 black residents in the area. Where did they all live? Where did they go? What happened to them? An account book from the first store in the area lists the names of black men among its customers: “John the Black Man,” for example, and there are many others. A 1908 publication belonging to the Brome Missisquoi Historical Society also a refers to “the St. Armand Negro Burying …show more content…
Other archival records refer to the cemetery as being on the farm, but small-town politics and the strong resistance of the landowner have thwarted Mr. Avery’s and others efforts.
So what happened to this original African American Community? No one is certain how many slaves laboured for Colonel Luke, or when they died, but estimates are that as many as 30 were buried on the former Luke property. I am positive they probably formed their own community and became active members in the building and opening up of the Eastern Township region of Quebec. They worked, lived and celebrated as equals, and some in the local area are probably even descended from this former black community. So why is this area and the rock not recognized historically?
Today we are a few days away from 2017 and Don Phillips is still fighting to get the area formally recognized as a historical site. After days of researching I cannot find out any other mention of Hank Avery, the former elementary school teacher who first visited the burial ground in 1996 and was outraged when he realized there were no markers on it. What happened to Mr.