Last updated: July 23, 2022
Place
The Black Pioneers (Victoria Pioneer Rifle Company)
"The colored population of San Francisco have been making enquiries about Vancouvers Island and whether or not they would be allowed to settle and purchase land in this Colony, as owing to some recent oppressive enactments of the legislature in California they wish to transfer their allegiance to this Country; I gave them a favorable reply and assured them of the protection of the laws if they settle in this Colony.”
This April 27,1858 note from British Columbia Governor James Douglas to his Hudson’s Bay Company bosses documents an often-overlooked freedom journey taken by hundreds of African-Americans who left their homeland to find liberty under the protection of the British Empire, which then controlled British Columbia. This street contains bricks commemorating individual members of the Black Pioneers.
When examining 19th century racism on the West Coast, public attention normally turns to Oregon, the only state to make it illegal to be a Black resident in its state constitution. Racist laws and practices also permeated California, whose Black citizens were denied the right to testify in court, which made it far easier for white citizens to exploit and victimize them, vote, or attend schools. The 1857 Dred Scott decision, famous for its line that Black people were "so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man is bound to respect" denied all federal citizenship rights, potentially including the right to homestead, to African-Americans and empowered fugitive slave hunters and kidnappers to operate in free states like California. This presented a grim prospect to California's Black population who could easily envision their second-class citizenship rights disappearing in the wake of this supreme court decision.
In early 1858, at least four shiploads of Black Californians dubbed the “Black Pioneers” left for freedom in British Columbia. A year later, during the Pig War, nearly 800 people had migrated to freedom on Vancouver Island. These freedomseekers had been invited to British Columbia by Governor Douglas, a man of Afro-Scottish ancestry, who sought loyal citizens to help him retain power during the Fraser River Gold Rush. That spring, the pursuit of instant riches had brought approximately 20,000 Americans to British Columbia, where they vastly outnumbered British immigrants, making Douglas apprehensive that they would not only displace his subjects but seize power and make British Columbia a part of the United States. The vast majority of these men, known as “the floating population of California” returned home without riches in late 1858 and early 1859, but the Black Pioneers who Douglas had invited to his domain remained.
At the height of the Pig War, between 40 and 50 Black people, most of them migrants from California, volunteered to serve as a militia to defend Vancouver Island from possible US aggression. The Victoria Pioneer Rifle Corps publicly drilled in Victoria, participated in civic ceremonies, and were trained by the Royal Navy, which means they almost certainly interacted with Royal Marines personnel that visited and lived at English Camp. In the early 1860s, Black voters also played a key role in local politics, with their votes (something they wouldn’t have had the ability to cast in the United States) playing a decisive role in keeping Governor Douglas in power. In 1865, Governor Douglas retired and the Victoria Pioneer Rifle Group disbanded due to neglect and insults from the new, more racist authorities. Nonetheless, their mere existence as part of a successful alliance between a British Royal Governor and African-American immigrants charged with defending imperial territory from US aggression is notable, at a time when Black people were denied military in the United States.
Despite their comparative freedom and their public prominence in British Columbia, Black Pioneers still faced discrimination, which was likely heightened by their alliance with Governor Douglas, which made them a juicy political target for his political rivals. Political differences with British-born Black immigrants and the new promise of freedom following the Civil War made many Black Pioneers conclude by 1865 that, as a local newspaper put it, "We have brighter prospects of political elevation under our own [American] government, than in any British colony on this coast." While approximately 50 percent of the Black Pioneers returned to the United States, many present day residents of British Columbia are descended from the Black Pioneers who found freedom on Vancouver Island.
This April 27,1858 note from British Columbia Governor James Douglas to his Hudson’s Bay Company bosses documents an often-overlooked freedom journey taken by hundreds of African-Americans who left their homeland to find liberty under the protection of the British Empire, which then controlled British Columbia. This street contains bricks commemorating individual members of the Black Pioneers.
When examining 19th century racism on the West Coast, public attention normally turns to Oregon, the only state to make it illegal to be a Black resident in its state constitution. Racist laws and practices also permeated California, whose Black citizens were denied the right to testify in court, which made it far easier for white citizens to exploit and victimize them, vote, or attend schools. The 1857 Dred Scott decision, famous for its line that Black people were "so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man is bound to respect" denied all federal citizenship rights, potentially including the right to homestead, to African-Americans and empowered fugitive slave hunters and kidnappers to operate in free states like California. This presented a grim prospect to California's Black population who could easily envision their second-class citizenship rights disappearing in the wake of this supreme court decision.
In early 1858, at least four shiploads of Black Californians dubbed the “Black Pioneers” left for freedom in British Columbia. A year later, during the Pig War, nearly 800 people had migrated to freedom on Vancouver Island. These freedomseekers had been invited to British Columbia by Governor Douglas, a man of Afro-Scottish ancestry, who sought loyal citizens to help him retain power during the Fraser River Gold Rush. That spring, the pursuit of instant riches had brought approximately 20,000 Americans to British Columbia, where they vastly outnumbered British immigrants, making Douglas apprehensive that they would not only displace his subjects but seize power and make British Columbia a part of the United States. The vast majority of these men, known as “the floating population of California” returned home without riches in late 1858 and early 1859, but the Black Pioneers who Douglas had invited to his domain remained.
At the height of the Pig War, between 40 and 50 Black people, most of them migrants from California, volunteered to serve as a militia to defend Vancouver Island from possible US aggression. The Victoria Pioneer Rifle Corps publicly drilled in Victoria, participated in civic ceremonies, and were trained by the Royal Navy, which means they almost certainly interacted with Royal Marines personnel that visited and lived at English Camp. In the early 1860s, Black voters also played a key role in local politics, with their votes (something they wouldn’t have had the ability to cast in the United States) playing a decisive role in keeping Governor Douglas in power. In 1865, Governor Douglas retired and the Victoria Pioneer Rifle Group disbanded due to neglect and insults from the new, more racist authorities. Nonetheless, their mere existence as part of a successful alliance between a British Royal Governor and African-American immigrants charged with defending imperial territory from US aggression is notable, at a time when Black people were denied military in the United States.
Despite their comparative freedom and their public prominence in British Columbia, Black Pioneers still faced discrimination, which was likely heightened by their alliance with Governor Douglas, which made them a juicy political target for his political rivals. Political differences with British-born Black immigrants and the new promise of freedom following the Civil War made many Black Pioneers conclude by 1865 that, as a local newspaper put it, "We have brighter prospects of political elevation under our own [American] government, than in any British colony on this coast." While approximately 50 percent of the Black Pioneers returned to the United States, many present day residents of British Columbia are descended from the Black Pioneers who found freedom on Vancouver Island.