Notices of enslaved people for sale or on the run in Quebec city's newspapers between 1767 and 1791:
John Williams's advertisement for the barbershop he ran with his brother from 1870 to 1920 on St-Louis street. Born in 1834 from a jamaican father and an irish mother, he died in 1913:
J. WILLIAMS cor. St. Louis & Garden, Professor of Crinicultural Abscission and Cranilogical Tripsis, Tonsorial Artist, Physiognomical Hair Dresser, Facial Operato, Cranium Manipulator and Capillary Abridger, &c., &c. General Montcalm's old head quarters. Private Parlor for Ladies and Children's Hair Cutting Entrance on Garden Street
Scalp dressing in the North West, To the Great North-West with the Marquis of Lorne, I, the Voyage to Quebec, Canada, illustration from the magazine The Graphic, volume XXIV, no 612, August 20, 1881.
The Maison Jacquet in 1870, when the brothers John and James David Williams had there barbershop on Saint-Louis street in Quebec city.
June 4th 1734, Marie-Josèphe-Angélique was sentenced to death for allegedly setting fire to a part of the city of Montreal to cover her flight with her lover to New England. Her appeal to the Superior Council of Quebec was denied and the latter upheld the previous judgment. She was tortured and hanged on June 21st and her ashes scattered to the wind. The hangman was also a slave, Mathieu Léveillé from Martinique; it was his first execution. The following document is the confirmation of the death sentence, dated June 12th 1734:
Source: BIBLIOTHÈQUE ET ARCHIVES NATIONALES DU QUÉBEC. See the detailed documents here.
On April 13th 1709, the intendant Jacques Raudot issued an order in Quebec, Trois-Rivières and Montreal about the servile status of enslaved natives and people of african descent in New-France:
Source: BIBLIOTHÈQUE ET ARCHIVES NATIONALES DU QUÉBEC. See the detailed documents here.
"A view of the Jesuits College and Church" by Richard Short (1760). There is a couple followed by a boy of african descent in the lower right corner.
Source: M970.67.7 | Print | A view of the Jesuits College and Church | Richard Short | 1760 | © McCord Museum
See the detailed document here.
See the detailed document here.
"Ruins of the Intendant Palace" by George Heriot in 1799. According to the writer Frank Mackey, the person of african descent pictured could be either John Harrison or George Skeen, two beggars living in Saint-Roch near the ruins of the Intendant palace at this time.
Source: 953.132.27; Ruins of the Intendant's Palace (watercolour); George Heriot; ROM2006_7738_1. With permission from the Royal Ontario Museum © ROM.
"Minuets of the Canadians" by George Heriot circa 1801. Two musicians of african descent are pictured.
Source: 996.124.1; Minuets of the Canadians (watercolour over graphite on laid paper); George Heriot; ROM2006_7634_1. With permission from the Royal Ontario Museum © ROM.
Some ressources
Books
20th century
AUSTIN, David, éd., Moving against the system, Pluto press, Londres, 2018, 304 pages.
AUSTIN, David, Nègres noirs, Nègres blancs, Race, sexe et politique dans les années 1960 à Montréal, Lux Éditeur, 2015, 293 pages. (Traduction française de Fear of a Black Nation)
FOSTY, George & Darril, Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925, Stryker-Indigo Publishing, 2005, 235pages.
MATHIEU, Sarah-Jane, North of the Color Line, University of North Carolina Press, 2010, 280 pages.
End of slavery in Quebec (19th century)
MACKEY, Frank, Black Then : Blacks in Montreal 1780s-1880s, Montréal, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2004, 225 pages.
MACKEY, Frank, L'esclavage et les Noirs à Montréal, 1760-1840, Montréal, Cahiers du Québec, Hurtubise, 2013, 662 pages.
MACKEY, Frank, Done with Slavery : The Black Fact in Montreal, Montréal, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2010, 604 pages.
Slavery in Quebec (17th and 18th centuries)
BILÉ, Serge, Esclave et bourreau, L’histoire incroyable de Mathieu Léveillé, esclave de Martinique devenu bourreau en Nouvelle-France, Québec, Les éditions du Septentrion, 2015, 165 pages.
COOPER, Afua, The Hanging of Angelique, The untold story of canadian slavery and the burning of Old Montreal, Harper Perennial, 2006, 349 pages.
TRUDEL, Marcel, Deux siècles d'esclavage au Québec, Montréal, Éditions Hurtubise HMH, 2004, 406 pages.
VIGER, Jacques, LAFONTAINE, Sir Louis-Hyppolite, De l’esclavage en Canada, Société Historique de Montréal, Montréal, 1859.
Webster & Dimani Mathieu Cassendo, L’esclavage au Canada, Commission Canadienne pour l’UNESCO, 2020, 21 pages.
Webster & Valmo, Le Grain de Sable, Olivier Le Jeune, Premier esclave au Canada, Les éditions Septentrion, Québec, 2019, 80 pages.
Indigenous slavery (18th century)
RUSHFORTH, Brett, Bonds of Alliance, Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France, Williamsburg, University of North Carolina Press, 2012, 424 pages.
Afro-Quebecois/Canadian history in general
GUAY, Daniel, Les Noirs du Québec : 1629-1900, Québec, Les éditions du Septentrion, 2004, 516 pages.
WILLIAMS, Dorothy W., Les Noirs à Montréal, 1628-1986, Essai de démographie urbaine, Montréal, VLB Éditeur, 1998, 212 pages.
WINKS, Robin W., The Blacks in Canada, A history, 2nd edition, Montréal, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1997, 546 pages.
Underground Railroad and arrival of fugitives from the United States (19th century)
RIPLEY, C. Peter, The Black Abolitionist Papers, Volumme II, Canada, 1830-1865, The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill and London, 1986, 560 pages.
SILVERMAN, Jason H. Unwelcome guests : Canada West's response to American fugitive slaves, 1800-1865, Associated Faculty Press, Millwood, N.Y., 1985, 215 pages.
TOBIN, Jacqueline, From Midnight to Dawn, The last tracks of the Underground Railroad, New York, Anchor Books, 2007, 172 pages.
Black Loyalists and the Maritimes (18th century)
WHITFIELD, Harvey Amani, North to bondage, Loyalist slavery in the Maritimes, Vancouver, UBC Press, 2016, 181 pages.
Documentaries and shorts
Ninth Floor - Mina Shum
Show Girls - Meilan Lam
John Ware Reclaimed - Cheryl Foggo
Black Soul - Martine Chartrand
Macpherson - Martine Chartrand
Websites
L'Encyclopédie canadienne and Natasha L. Henry's articles serie.
Fugitifs.ca
Black Histories in the Eastern Townships
Educational guides
Histoire Canada: Trousse éducative — l’histoire des Noirs (Fr, Eng)
L’Encyclopédie canadienne: Histoire des Noirs au Canada - Guide pédagogique (Fr, Eng)
Fugitifs! De l’esclavage aux droits de la personne (Fr, Eng)
20th century
AUSTIN, David, éd., Moving against the system, Pluto press, Londres, 2018, 304 pages.
AUSTIN, David, Nègres noirs, Nègres blancs, Race, sexe et politique dans les années 1960 à Montréal, Lux Éditeur, 2015, 293 pages. (Traduction française de Fear of a Black Nation)
FOSTY, George & Darril, Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925, Stryker-Indigo Publishing, 2005, 235pages.
MATHIEU, Sarah-Jane, North of the Color Line, University of North Carolina Press, 2010, 280 pages.
End of slavery in Quebec (19th century)
MACKEY, Frank, Black Then : Blacks in Montreal 1780s-1880s, Montréal, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2004, 225 pages.
MACKEY, Frank, L'esclavage et les Noirs à Montréal, 1760-1840, Montréal, Cahiers du Québec, Hurtubise, 2013, 662 pages.
MACKEY, Frank, Done with Slavery : The Black Fact in Montreal, Montréal, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2010, 604 pages.
Slavery in Quebec (17th and 18th centuries)
BILÉ, Serge, Esclave et bourreau, L’histoire incroyable de Mathieu Léveillé, esclave de Martinique devenu bourreau en Nouvelle-France, Québec, Les éditions du Septentrion, 2015, 165 pages.
COOPER, Afua, The Hanging of Angelique, The untold story of canadian slavery and the burning of Old Montreal, Harper Perennial, 2006, 349 pages.
TRUDEL, Marcel, Deux siècles d'esclavage au Québec, Montréal, Éditions Hurtubise HMH, 2004, 406 pages.
VIGER, Jacques, LAFONTAINE, Sir Louis-Hyppolite, De l’esclavage en Canada, Société Historique de Montréal, Montréal, 1859.
Webster & Dimani Mathieu Cassendo, L’esclavage au Canada, Commission Canadienne pour l’UNESCO, 2020, 21 pages.
Webster & Valmo, Le Grain de Sable, Olivier Le Jeune, Premier esclave au Canada, Les éditions Septentrion, Québec, 2019, 80 pages.
Indigenous slavery (18th century)
RUSHFORTH, Brett, Bonds of Alliance, Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France, Williamsburg, University of North Carolina Press, 2012, 424 pages.
Afro-Quebecois/Canadian history in general
GUAY, Daniel, Les Noirs du Québec : 1629-1900, Québec, Les éditions du Septentrion, 2004, 516 pages.
WILLIAMS, Dorothy W., Les Noirs à Montréal, 1628-1986, Essai de démographie urbaine, Montréal, VLB Éditeur, 1998, 212 pages.
WINKS, Robin W., The Blacks in Canada, A history, 2nd edition, Montréal, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1997, 546 pages.
Underground Railroad and arrival of fugitives from the United States (19th century)
RIPLEY, C. Peter, The Black Abolitionist Papers, Volumme II, Canada, 1830-1865, The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill and London, 1986, 560 pages.
SILVERMAN, Jason H. Unwelcome guests : Canada West's response to American fugitive slaves, 1800-1865, Associated Faculty Press, Millwood, N.Y., 1985, 215 pages.
TOBIN, Jacqueline, From Midnight to Dawn, The last tracks of the Underground Railroad, New York, Anchor Books, 2007, 172 pages.
Black Loyalists and the Maritimes (18th century)
WHITFIELD, Harvey Amani, North to bondage, Loyalist slavery in the Maritimes, Vancouver, UBC Press, 2016, 181 pages.
Documentaries and shorts
Ninth Floor - Mina Shum
Show Girls - Meilan Lam
John Ware Reclaimed - Cheryl Foggo
Black Soul - Martine Chartrand
Macpherson - Martine Chartrand
Websites
L'Encyclopédie canadienne and Natasha L. Henry's articles serie.
Fugitifs.ca
Black Histories in the Eastern Townships
Educational guides
Histoire Canada: Trousse éducative — l’histoire des Noirs (Fr, Eng)
L’Encyclopédie canadienne: Histoire des Noirs au Canada - Guide pédagogique (Fr, Eng)
Fugitifs! De l’esclavage aux droits de la personne (Fr, Eng)