A Brief History of Saskatchewan’s Pioneering Settlers of African Descent
Cover photo: Descendants of the Mayes family, August 3, 2019, at the celebration to designate Shiloh Baptist Church as a Provincial Heritage property. The Mayes family came to Saskatchewan from Oklahoma in 1910. Photo courtesy of the Saskatchewan African-Canadian Heritage Museum.
This article was originally published in the Winter 2014/2015 edition of Folklore Magazine. It was updated for this blog post.
As early as the 1900s, people of African descent have been a part of the rich history of Saskatchewan. Like other groups making up the Prairies, they migrated from different countries and at various times.
Some are descendants of Africans from the slave trade era, some descendants of African Americans who came following the American Civil War and more recently, economic migrants from Caribbean and African countries. This article sheds some light on the history and the contributions of these pioneering settlers to the Prairies, and the work of the Saskatchewan African Canadian Heritage Museum (SACHM) in making their history digitally accessible.
The history of the first settlers can be traced to a significant moment in history- the defeat of the South following the American Civil War. While slavery was abolished in 1861, it was not until the civil war ended in 1865 that many enslaved people could use their right to freedom. African Americans began moving west in order to live out their freedom. Most of them initially moved to the Indian Territory, as this was one of the few places where they, in addition to displaced First Nations citizens, could get land and exercise their civil rights. However, this freedom was short-lived.
By the time this territory had become the state of Oklahoma in 1908, it was dominated by an increasing population of white Americans who had moved from the older southern states, bringing their racist policies with them. By 1910, most of the newfound freedom, including the right to vote, enjoyed by African American settlers was taken again by the white majority by way of a state-wide referendum. As a result, while technically free to own property and exercise their rights, they faced difficult hurdles to do so.
Around the same time, Canada had begun advertising for settlers in Europe and the United States. African American newspapers in Oklahoma soon shared these advertisements, and the African Americans in Oklahoma began moving in the early 20th century to escape the discrimination they found themselves facing yet again.
Immigration pamphlet, 1905. Photo FC-3204.2.C21P76-1905; ID 25691 courtesy of University of Saskatchewan Library Special Collections.
Some of these individuals settled near Maidstone, Saskatchewan. In a few years, a new set of African American pioneers - the La Fayette brothers from Iowa - settled near Rosetown. After these early pioneers, in the latter half of the 20th century, African Americans began to move north to Saskatchewan en masse with trainloads of men, women, and children.
Just like their first move west, their move north to Saskatchewan was not all rosy either. The measures to stop their migration ranged from orders, to strict medical checkups, to efforts to limit their access to information and certifications that could give them equal economic opportunities. In 1911, The Cabinet of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the then Primer Minister, approved an order to ban Black people from entering Canada, stating that “the Negro race…is deemed unsuitable to the climate and requirements of Canada.”
These settlers were hardworking and insistent on their freedom, and soon established their largest settlement north of Maidstone along the North Saskatchewan River in the Eldon district. The Shiloh Baptist Church, which is still there, was created in 1912, and became the organizing centre of their community.
Shiloh Baptist Church on August 3, 2019, the day it received designation as a Provincial Heritage Property. Photo courtesy of Carl Krause.
Obtaining education was initially hard due to racial segregation, however they kept trying to create a school district for their children to obtain an education in Canada.
Discrimination also meant that it was mostly the menial jobs on the railroads that were available to them, especially for the young men, who faced particular discrimination. Young men often ended up moving away from the rural plains to the region's cities for jobs and ended up being scattered all over the country around its railroad centres. As a result, African Canadian families located as far as Montreal and Vancouver have their roots in the prairies.
Lafayette family reunion and softball game; Earl Lafayette at bat. Fiske, Saskatchewan, 31 July 1982. Photo courtesy of Brenda Zeman, Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan R-A23391.
Robert Bruce Shepard, a curator at the Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre, conducted his research into American settlement in Western Canada with a Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Regina, titled “American Influence on the Settlement and Development of the Canadian Plains.” He notes that Black settlers were part of a bigger wave of American migration to Canada, which often brought a lot of American farm machinery.
However, they faced unfair treatment, and often had to fight and advocate to access opportunities. For example, “when representatives from the Edmonton Board of Trade took to the streets of that City to obtain signatures on a petition to keep Black settlers out of Canada, local Black citizens responded. They would interrupt conversations the canvassers were having and try to explain the situation.”
Shepard also notes another instance in Saskatchewan, where “Black settlers petitioned and lobbied the Provincial Government not to segregate their children in an all-Black school district. They were not successful initially, but within a few years the school became more integrated.”
A portrait of some of these settlers is available virtually. It is being illuminated by the Saskatchewan African Canadian Heritage Museum which aims to create a virtual museum for the preservation of the contribution of people of African ancestry to Saskatchewan.
Through their work one can learn of Lewis and Lillie La Fayette who moved to Canada for "the promise of land and of greater freedom for [their] children."
Carol LaFayette-Boyd provided the following information: “The LaFayette family, about 1940, at the LaFayette Farm (McGee/Fiske address). Back row, left to right: Lewis (my grandfather), Anne, Homer, Rose (my mother), unknown, Earl, Muriel. Next row: Vera (my sister), Harold (my cousin), Bernadette (my cousin), unknown, Lewis (my brother). Front row: Daniel, my dad Karl with my sister Isobel, my brother Arnold with unknown child. All those named without a title are aunts and uncles.” Photo courtesy of Carol LaFayette-Boyd/Saskatchewan African-Canadian Heritage Museum.
Lewis established a successful farming operation near Fiske that enabled him and his brother to employ a harvesting crew and to take care of his ten children. Exceptionally hardworking, he also served on the Telephone Board at Fiske, as well as the Saskatchewan Co-op Elevators.
Glenn Edward LaFayette, sixth child born to Lewis and Lillie LaFayette. Photo courtesy of the Saskatchewan African-Canadian Heritage Museum.
You will also learn of Mattie Mayes and her husband Joseph Mayes who raised thirteen children together. As a midwife who had amassed a wealth of knowledge about herbal medicine despite her poor formal education, she employed this knowledge in helping her neighbours when the doctor was unable to arrive on time.
Mattie Mayes, ca 1942. Photo courtesy of the Saskatchewan African-Canadian Heritage Museum.
You will learn about Willa Dallard, a life-long reader who had a sharp interest in history and politics and kept reading all her life even in the absence of an opportunity to complete her formal education. She worked as a live-in day lady with her employers and used her savings to help her family's upkeep.
Willa Dallard, right, with daughter Phyllis at left. Edmonton Public Library. Photo courtesy of the author.
When Willa married Noah Dallard in 1920, they moved to Prelate and had four children. The following years held much sadness for her, as she lost her daughter, her son and then her husband. Yet she was remembered for always laughing, and she was an active participant at the Wheat Pool's programs as a farmer's wife.
Another person on the SACHM website is Fannie Saunders, a trained musician and teacher who loved music, laughter, and travel. She too loved the prairies and was once heard in her final days, while crippled with arthritis, to say, "It will be beautiful at the farm. Oh, how I would love to walk across the prairie once more, especially in the spring, when the first larks return and the crocuses are peeping out, and everything is turning green. Sometimes I say a prayer, thank you, God, for this lovely earth you created, and this beautiful vegetation. And I would just walk and walk."
Fanny Saunders, left, with niece Betty Lou, sometime after 1926. Photo courtesy of the Saskatchewan African-Canadian Heritage Museum.
These pioneers and their families and descendants contributed richly to agriculture, transportation, arts, culture, and economy in the Prairies, and contributed to shaping Saskatchewan into what it is today. They found fulfilment in seeing the fruit of their hard work, advocacy, faith, and their entrepreneurial spirit for them and the future generations. Saskatchewan is proud to call them ancestors.
LaFayette family reunion in 2010. Photo courtesy of Carol LaFayette Boyd/Saskatchewan African-Canadian Heritage Museum.
Ebele Mogo.
EBELE MOGO is a storyteller, a scientist, and an innovator. Her writing has been published in the following places: Newfound, Third Point Press, Munyori Literary Magazine, Stockholm review of literature, Susan the Journal, The Offing, Saraba magazine, Tap Lit, Narrative Northeast, Brittle Paper, the Rising Phoenix, Interartive, among other places. She is on Twitter as @ebyral.
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