By MURPHY BROWNE (Abena Agbetu)
February is celebrated as African History Month, African Heritage Month or Black History Month in several countries including Canada. There has been a documented African presence in this country since at least the early 1600s. Mathieu DaCosta is recognized as the first African to arrive in this country in 1603, before it was called Canada. He was an interpreter for the French with the Mi’kmaq.
His first documented presence on this land was as part of an expedition that travelled from France led by Samuel de Champlain. DaCosta spoke several languages including Dutch, English, French, Portuguese and Mi’kmaq.
Our history did not begin with slavery, but most Africans in the Diaspora are the descendants of enslaved Africans unless both of their parents are immigrants from the African continent.
The first enslaved African documented in Canada was a six-year-old child who was kidnapped from the African continent and sold by David Kirke, a British pirate, to a French colonizer in Quebec. The child was given the name Olivier Le Jeune by the Frenchman who bought and enslaved him.
Enslaved Africans were renamed by European enslavers including the Danes, Dutch, English, French, Germans, Irish, Portuguese, Scottish, Spanish and Welsh. The reason most Africans in the Diaspora have European names is because our enslaved ancestors were stripped of their names and renamed by their enslavers.
Marie Marguerite Rose was one of many who were renamed by European enslavers. She was a 19-year-old African woman who was kidnapped from Guinea, West Africa in 1736. She was sold to Jean Chrysostome Loppinot, a military officer at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. On September 27, 1736, stripped of her African name, she was “baptized” with the French name “Marguerite”.
Two years after her enslavement, Marguerite gave birth to a son, Jean-François, whose father was her enslaver and the enslaver of her child. Children born to enslaved women inherited the status of their mother and were automatically enslaved, regardless of the race or status of the father. These enslaved children were often sold by their owners/fathers just like any other enslaved person.
Marie Marguerite Rose was freed in 1755 after 19 years of enslavement and was married on November 27, 1755. Two years later she transitioned to the ancestral realm on August 27, 1757. During her two years of freedom Marie Marguerite Rose and her husband “opened a tavern in Louisbourg, becoming part of the colony’s business community”.
In 2008 the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, declared Marie Marguerite Rose a national historic person. On August 6, 2010, on behalf of Jim Prentice, then Minister of the Environment and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, a plaque was commemorated in Marie Marguerite Rose’s honour. On July 16, 2011, Peter Kent, then Canada’s environment minister and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, unveiled an exhibit celebrating Marie Marguerite Rose.
Part of a news release for the occasion reads: “This exhibit represents the immense perseverance of Marie Marguerite Rose, a woman who with courage and dignity asserted her rights at a time when they were far from assured. Her life serves as a reminder of both our nation’s diverse heritage and the freedoms we as Canadians enjoy today.” https://web.archive.org/web/20160304211255/http://www.pc.gc.ca/APPS/CP-NR/release_e.asp?id=1740&andor1=nr.
The Canadian Negro Women’s Association and African Canadian activist Stanley George Grizzle pioneered the celebration of “Black history” in the 1950s. The Ontario Black History Society was instrumental in the recognition of Black History Month as a citywide celebration in 1979. In 1993, the celebration gained province-wide recognition. In 1996, due to the advocacy of Member of Parliament Jean Augustine in December of 1995, Black History Month became a nationally recognized celebration in Canada.
This year, 2024, is the end of “The International Decade for People of African Descent”, and we are not much closer to achieving/realizing the lofty declarations made almost 10 years ago: “The International Decade for People of African Descent, proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 68/237 and to be observed from 2015 to 2024, provides a solid framework for the United Nations, Member States, civil society and all other relevant actors to join together with people of African descent and take effective measures for the implementation of the programme of activities in the spirit of recognition, justice and development.
“It is also a unique opportunity to build on the International Year for People of African Descent, which was observed by the international community in 2011, and to further underline the important contribution made by people of African descent to our societies and to propose concrete measures to promote their full inclusion and to combat racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.”
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