Exhibition in Old Montreal museum looks at Black community's work on the railways
An event at the Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History (Pointe-a-Calliere) Museum highlights the role of Black railway porters in a local neighbourhood.
The St. Henri community is one that some say has been long forgotten. The community is crisscrossed by train tracks, and its history is linked to the rails, being home to the oldest railway in Canada.
The working-class neighbourhood was immortalized by author Gabrielle Roy as a French-Canadian community, but there were also pockets of Black Montrealers living there.
"The other reality is that push against the myths or the romantic narrative of it being only Quebec francophone working class community," said historian Dorothy Williams.
The museum's exhibit dives into St. Henri's history and includes a section on railway porters. Williams found that many of them were Black men with university educations working as valets and living in St. Henri.
"We're not talking an uneducated class of people," she said. "We're talking about people who were pre-med, pre-law, the same person who would shine your shoes could also have a discussion with you about Aristotle and Socrates."
Working as a porter at the time was seen as a good job, but Williams said that even if Jim Crow laws weren't in place in Canada, abuse existed throughout the system.
"So you have you have stories of Black men being spit and hit, vomited on," she said.
For the museum, highlighting the porters' stories was a priority.
"Of course, if one community is predominant, you will mostly talk about them, but you don't want to forget the smaller stories that are important," said expositions director Samuel Moreau.
Williams will be giving a presentation at the museum on Feb. 22, which will look at the little-known community.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton hospitalized after prison attack
British Columbia serial killer Robert Pickton sustained life-threatening injuries in a Quebec prison Sunday in what officials described as a 'major assault.'
Passenger killed, 30 injured as Singapore Airlines flight hits severe turbulence
One passenger was killed and 30 injured after a Singapore Airlines SIAL.SI flight from London hit severe turbulence en route on Tuesday, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Bangkok, officials and the airline said.
Conservatives kick off return to House with new call for Speaker Greg Fergus to resign
Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives returned to the House of Commons on Tuesday with a renewed call for Speaker Greg Fergus to resign, this time over 'very partisan' and 'inflammatory' language used to promote an upcoming event.
Trump campaign calls 'The Apprentice' 'blatantly false,' director offers to screen it for him
Donald Trump's reelection campaign called 'The Apprentice,' a film about the former U.S. president in the 1980s, 'pure fiction' and vowed legal action following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. But director Ali Abbasi is offering to privately screen the film for Trump.
Feels like mid-30s in parts of Canada, while other areas expecting snow
Anything is possible this week, as far as Canada's weather is concerned, with forecasts ranging from scorching heat in some parts of the country to rain and snow in others.
Nestle to sell $5 pizza, sandwiches in the U.S. for Wegovy, Ozempic users
Nestle NESN.S will market a new, US$5 line of frozen pizzas and protein-enriched pastas in the United States which it says it designed specifically for people taking drugs such as Wegovy or Ozempic for weight loss.
How much more Canadian consumers are paying, compared to this time last year
Canada's annual inflation rate slowed to a three-year low of 2.7 per cent in April, matching expectations, and core measures continued to ease, data showed on Tuesday, likely boosting chances of a June interest rate cut.
Amal Clooney is one of the legal experts who recommended war crimes charges in Israel-Hamas war
Amal Clooney is one of the legal experts who recommended that the chief prosecutor of the world's top war crimes court seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders of the militant Hamas group.
Flight PS752 victims' families say they're not sorry to hear of Iran president death
Members of a Canadian group representing families of those killed when Iranian officials shot down Flight PS752 in January 2020 say they are not sorry to hear of the death of Iran's president.