The Archaeology and Settlement History of an Early Black neighbourhood in The Ward, Toronto
Author(s): Holly Martelle
Year: 2020
Summary
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Bridging Connections and Communities: 19th-Century Black Settlement in North America" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.
This paper will provide an overview of the archaeology and settlement history of a neighbourhood in The Ward, a celebrated early arrival and multi-cultural working class district in Toronto. Archaeological excavations carried out in advance of the construction for the New Toronto Courthouse have renewed interest in the early Black settlers who lived on property and founded the Sayre/Chestnut Street African Methodist Episcopal Church (later the British Methodist Episcopal Church) on the block. During the excavations, the homes of Underground Railroad conductor Francis Griffin Simpson and freedom-seeker Cecelia Jane Reynolds were uncovered. Cecelia’s life story has been told in Steal Away Home by Karolyn Smardz Frost.
Cite this Record
The Archaeology and Settlement History of an Early Black neighbourhood in The Ward, Toronto. Holly Martelle. 2020 ( tDAR id: 456874)
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Keywords
General
African Canadian
•
Underground Railroad
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Urban Archaeology
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Working Class
Geographic Keywords
Canada
Temporal Keywords
19th to 20th Century
Spatial Coverage
min long: -141.003; min lat: 41.684 ; max long: -52.617; max lat: 83.113 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 338