Black history month is a unique month. It allows different societies to reflect on one of the cruelest crimes against humanity ever perpetrated, one which lasted around 250 years in the U.S., and there were even moments in Canadian history that involved some elements of slavery. However, what makes the U.S. and Canada stand out from other countries is a genuine commitment to truth and reconciliation, and recognizing moments in time that are uncomfortable. There are so many Black historical figures that deserve public appreciation for the lives that they lived, in the time that they lived, around the conditions of that time.
Some of the most recognizable names that defied all odds include Malcolm X, a man who had a turbulent childhood that included the KKK killing his father and a mother that was removed from his life because she struggled with her mental health. At one point, X was a part of the underworld before the prison library and Islamic faith helped him turn his life around. X would end up being one of the deepest thinkers of his time and arguably the best public speaker of his generation, achieved with little formal education, and he had begun to adopt the idea of all the world’s people being interconnected before he was killed. Then there is Muhammad Ali, the Greatest. Ali grew up quite impoverished and fought his way out of poverty, earning a gold medal at the Olympics, which did nothing to afford him non-segregation privileges. Ali was so steadfast in his convictions against the Vietnam war that he was prepared to spend the rest of his life in prison. Both these gentlemen became renowned public figures, and despite that their lives were not linear, their lives trended in the right direction for their duration.
The list of Black individuals that have walked the North American continent and left an indelible mark on the world is long and rich. However, for the purposes of this three-part series, we will explore the minds of three Africa-American giants who are likely to be lesser-known among most Canadians, beginning with William Still, followed by Barbara Jordan, and Frederick Douglass.
The Life of William Still, Father of the Underground Railroad. (2022)
Born in 1821 to free parents who had been enslaved, William Still was drawn to antislavery work from a young age and taught himself to how read and write. It may be this self-drive that fueled the trajectory of his life. Some of the events that had the biggest impact on Still include being rejected from boarding a streetcar after the conductor took his money and being denied the right to buy certain land despite having the resources. None might be greater than what transpired after Still paid a labor agency a “job seekers” fee for work, at a time when money was tight, which got him direction where to find employers. When Still arrived at the location, there was no work for him. Simply put, Still was swindled out of the money and was forced to look elsewhere, eventually finding work as a waiter at a hotel. During that period of his life, Still slept under the stairs in a bed made out of straw pallets, which he compared to a dog’s kennel, but he put up with the conditions until he had saved enough money to extricate himself.
Unlike many others involved with the Underground Railroad, Still claimed that the Underground Railroad was an avenue for enslaved people to free themselves, and not something that freed enslaved people. Why Still has been called the father of the Underground Railroad requires clarification. Still was not a father in the sense of giving life, but a father in the sense of nurturing, protecting, guiding, and shaping the Underground Railroad.
In 1860, when there began to be a belief that education was not something of worth for Black people, Still would preach how a cultivated mind would discredit the racist belief that Blacks were naturally inferior to other races. Education would provide the ability to challenge this stereotype directly and to craft a central argument in language that nobody could refute. Elite character, elite perseverance, and elite will was what Still thought of when thinking about an elite class of Blacks. Perhaps the lens under which Still viewed the “perfect” Black person can be better understood by looking at the time period where man denied fellow man equal rights and aspirations of the highest manhood, solely on the basis of race.
As a preacher and lecturer, Still always returned to his origin story of humble beginnings and how he had arrived at Philadelphia with $3.00 and a wardrobe that was worth even less. Many of those stories can be found in The Underground Railroad (1883), with the overarching message of acquiring knowledge and exhibiting high moral character in the pursuit of forward progress, even when public sentiment at the time may have been unfavorable towards such pursuits. Still was part of the reformers who brought about dramatic transformation in society, and he saw the key driver behind that force of good as being personal responsibility.
Largely the result of his own life’s starting point, Still saw humble origins, even impoverished ones, as a potential blessing, a training ground of skill and discipline, preparing people for what lay ahead. Whether a person succeeded or failed would ultimately be the result of that person’s own character and their willingness to work hard. However, Still’s end goal of the combination of hard work and self-improvement was. according to him, to improve society over getting rich. In the end, William Still was eulogized as a man that remained devoted to the wide world of humanity and human rights, and he was honored by both black and white Americans as a hero of the struggle against slavery.
William Still traveled to Canada to see how Blacks were living.
In 1973, the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada (today’s Ontario) decided to ban the importing of slaves and began the process to completely abolish the ‘institution’ of slavery, almost 100 years before America decided to follow suite. The main waves of former slaves seeking refuge began to pick up in the 1830s and up until slavery was abolished in 1865. The first waves included many Blacks from Cincinnati, and most settled in communities not too far from the border. This resulted in subsequent waves settling around the existing communities on the shores of Lake Huron. During his visit to Canada, Still witnessed how Black Canadians faced little discrimination as compared to Blacks in America. In Canada, Black men were allowed to serve on juries, they could vote, and they even served in the military.
One of the then communities that Still visited was St. Catherines, and he described it as a refuge for the oppressed, a place of rest for the travel-soiled and foot-sore fugitive. Still also travelled to other communities in the areas of Toronto: Hamilton, Kingston, Buxton, and Chatham. Two observations that stuck out for Still were how Blacks in the northwestern section of Toronto accounted for 1,000 out of the 47,000 population and how it was the place were the industrious nature of Blacks shined brightest. With Chatham, Still struggled to understand how Blacks were equal in population size compared to Whites, and everyone managed to live together in peace and prosperity. Eventually, when Still wrote about his experience and what he saw, he described Canada as a place that gave everything that was denied to Blacks in America.
The quote that sums up William Still’s thinking.
“None can deny that fields all around us need many faithful intelligent and devoted workers to save hundreds and thousands of our youth from tippling shops and drinking houses: from gambling halls and brothels: from making shipwrecks of hope and character before reaching maturity. Spend no hard earnings for vain amusement, or with sporting thoughtless crew in society.” – William Still, October 1873, Lombard Central Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.