The presence and integration of racial minorities within the larger Quebec society has been documented to a limited extent in print media. A pictorial history of the impact of African Canadians on the nation are far and few.
"Despite the success of this exhibition, we are forced to admit that there is a paucity of public information on the presence and contribution of racial minorities’ integration into the larger Canadian community. Black immigrants’ of this time had means of communication that typically included word of mouth and movement (e.g., story telling, music, drums, crafts and dance). Print has historically taken second place as a medium of popular usage."
Nancy Oliver-Mackenzie
Union United Church, as a historically Black congregation, celebrated in its 100th anniversary in 2007. To mark the occasion, researcher and educator Nancy Oliver-MacKenzie curated an exhibition showcasing Montreal’s Black communities throughout the decades in various contexts: at work, in recreation, in sports, and in performative arts like theatre and music.
Montreal has been home to many Black communities from documented sources for over 300 years - as explorers, enslaved, domestics, trappers, interpreters, servants, entrepreneurs and tradespeople. In the early 20th century, waves of immigrants from other parts of Canada, the USA, the Caribbean and the African continent built up the Black population in the city.
This population of Black migrants were engaged in occupations as diverse as teaching, politics, public service, business and manufacturing. Many of the stories of individual hardships and accomplishments are not recorded orally, but some fascinating sociological data can be obtained from collections of photographs kept by individual families.