175 years ago #OTD Sept. 18, 1850 the Fugitive Slave Act was passed by U.S. Congress. It allowed for the pursuit and capture of enslaved people across the United States, including northern states. As a result, countless African Americans who no longer felt safe in the U.S. sought refuge in Canada.

#OTD September 17, 1849 Harriet Tubman (born Minty Ross) escaped the Maryland plantation where she was enslaved. Two brothers, Ben and Harry, escaped with her, but decided to return. She continued to live in freedom but made multiple trips back to the south to rescue others. Photo: Tubman c. 1868.

#OTD Sept. 16, 1923 Kenneth Jacobs was born in Windsor, Ontario. He was the first Black social worker at the Children's Aid Society of Toronto, served in both the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force, and in 1975 became the first Black Canadian to reach the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

#OTD September 11th, 1851, the three-day North American Convention of Colored Freedman began at Toronto's brand new St. Lawrence Hall. Convened by Essex County residents Henry Bibb and James Theodore Holly in response to the Fugitive Slave Act, it drew 53 delegates and hundreds of participants.

On this International Makeup Day, we remember Viola Desmond, who long before becoming a civil rights icon and the face on the $10 bill, challenged racial boundaries as a pioneering entrepreneur with her own beauty studio, beauty academy, and cosmetics line for Black women. #InternationalMakeupDay

#OTD Sept. 3, 1883 James L. Dunn was denied the right to enroll his daughter Jane Ann in Windsor's Central School. He then sued the Windsor Board of Education for its segregationist practices. While he lost the case, he later became a trustee and Windsor’s first Black alderman.

#OTD September 1st, 1942 Alton Parker joined the Windsor Police force as a constable, making him the first Black uniformed police officer in Windsor. He also made history in 1951 when he became the first Black detective in Canada.

Celebrated annually on August 31st, the International Day for People of African Descent invites us to honour the immense and diverse contributions of people of African descent to the fabric of our societies and to human progress as a whole. It is also a day for action against racism and injustice.

#OTD August 28th, 1833, An Act for the Abolition of Slavery throughout the British Colonies (including Canada) received Royal Assent. The Act which took effect August 1st, 1834 freed children under the age of six, while others remained as apprentices for four to six years.

Celebrated August 27th, designated by the United Nations, World Lake Day aims to raise awareness of the importance of lakes and the sustainable management of lake and related ecosystems. #DYK generations of Black men residing in or near Amherstburg were employed in the Great Lakes shipping industry?

On September 20th, the Museum will honour Bishop C.L. Morton, Sr. with the posthumous Legacy Hero Award. amherstburgfreedom.org/50th-gala He founded five Ontario churches and six in the U.S., linking Black communities across the border through shared traditions of worship, music, and mutual care.

#OTD we recognize the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. We remember the tragedy of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and honour those who risked everything to end it. While some prefer to diminish the horrors of slavery, we choose to remember. #RememberSlavery

With his famous Radio Chorus, Bishop C.L. Morton, Sr. (1897-1962) hosted a popular weekly program on Windsor's CKLW from 1936 until 1962. #DYK that Bishop Morton, Sr. will be the recipient of the Legacy Hero Award at our 50th anniversary gala on September 20th? amherstburgfreedom.org/50th-gala

Join us for a memorable evening as we celebrate fifty years of sharing Black history and universal inspiration! Our Fiftieth Anniversary Gala takes place at the Caboto Club (Windsor) Saturday, September 20th beginning at 6:00 p.m. Visit amherstburgfreedom.org/50th-gala/ for tickets.

#OTD 100 years ago, August 15th, 1925, jazz pianist and composer Oscar Peterson was born in Montreal. Amid his storied career including many compositions and recordings, he remains best known for “Hymn to Freedom," written in 1962 and embraced globally as the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement.

As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Amherstburg Freedom Museum, we will be sharing highlights of the Museum's history on Thursdays. #ThrowbackThursday After risking demolition, Nazrey AME Church was restored in 1998-99 and was designated a National Historic Site in 1999.

#OTD August 13, 1920, the Pan-African flag, also known as the UNIA flag, Afro-American flag, or Black Liberation Flag, was formally adopted during the convention of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

#OTD August 12, 1911 the Cabinet of Wilfrid Laurier approved Order-in-Council P.C. 1911-1324, banning African Americans for one year because "the Negro race... is deemed unsuitable to the climate and requirements of Canada.” The Order-in-Council was repealed October 5, 1911 but sent a clear message.

Happy Emancipation Day! #OTD August 1st, 1834, the Slavery Abolition Act took effect. Black communities in Canada have celebrated Emancipation Day since the 1830s. On March 24th, 2021, the House of Commons voted unanimously to officially designate August 1st Emancipation Day.

Free admission at the museum today, 12 pm to 8 pm! Happy Emancipation.

Join the Amherstburg Freedom Museum for Emancipation events in Amherstburg this Wednesday and Friday, including free admission at the museum August 1st 12-8 pm! On August 2nd-4th, enjoy the Emancipation Jubilee hosted by the Black Council of Windsor-Essex and partners. Visit weblack.ca for more.

#OTD July 29, 1870 boxer George Dixon was born in Africville, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Dixon was the first Black person to become a world boxing champion in any weight class, the first champion of more than one weight class, and the first ever Canadian-born world boxing champion.

#OTD July 27, 1830 Osborne Perry Anderson was born in West Fallow Field, Pennsylvania. Later, in Chatham, Ontario, he worked as a printer for the Provincial Freeman. Recruited by John Brown for the raid on Harper's Ferry, which led to Brown's execution, he lived to tell the tale: ow.ly/Ww6H50v3nYS

We were pleased to welcome Nadia Hohn and members of the cast and crew of Wheel and Turn at the Amherstburg Freedom Museum today. Check out Wheel and Turn, an original play by Nadia L. Hohn, at Fringe Windsor tonight, Saturday, or Sunday. Tickets and info are available at fringewindsor.com.

#DYK Today, July 25th, 2025, is the first observance of the International Day for Women and Girls of African Descent? Image: Ethel Irene Dunn and Vivian Marguerite Dunn, Windsor, Ontario c. 1895-96.

#OTD July 24th, 2001 activist, journalist, publisher, author, and broadcaster Carrie Mae (Prevoe) Best passed away. She used her newspaper, The Clarion and other writing to advocate for the rights of Black Canadians, and her radio program The Quiet Corner created positive space for the arts.

July 21-22, 1796, between 550 and 600 Trelawney Maroons from Jamaica arrived in Halifax. Many joined the Nova Scotian militia or worked on building projects such as the Halifax Citadel or Government House. Disillusioned, most chose to sail to Sierra Leone in 1800. Image: Captain Leonard Parkinson.

Join us Friday, August 1st for Emancipation Day at the Amherstburg Freedom Museum, 277 King St. We'll be open 12 to 8 pm, with free admission, guided tours, and documentary screenings all day in our second floor gallery. Come celebrate Black history, learn something new, and be inspired!

#OTD, July 18th, 1918 Nelson Mandela was born in Mvezo, South Africa. The lawyer and anti-apartheid activist spent 27 years in prison. Once released, he became a Nobel Peace Prize winner and first Black President of South Africa. Globally, Nelson Mandela International Day is observed each July 18th.

#OTD July 16, 1862 Ida B. Wells-Barnett was born enslaved in Holly Springs, Mississippi. The activist/journalist devoted her adult life to writing and speaking about racism, sexism, segregation, discrimination, women's suffrage, and especially anti-Black domestic terrorism in the form of lynching.

#OTD, July 11th, 1936, Montreal's York Tavern refused to serve Fred Christie, a Jamaican Canadian chauffeur, due to his race. In 1939, the Supreme Court ruled by a 4-1 decision that "a merchant or trader is free to carry on his business in the manner he conceives to be best for that business".

#OTD, July 10, 1875 Mary McLeod Bethune, educator, organizer, college founder, and civil rights activist, was born near Mayesville, South Carolina. In 1954 Bethune spoke at Windsor, Ontario's Emancipation festivities. Photo with the Women's Committee including many Hour-A-Day Study Club members.

#OTD July 9th, 1793 the Act to Limit Slavery in Upper Canada (inspired in part by the courage of enslaved woman Chloe Cooley) received Royal Assent. Slavery did not end, but no more enslaved people could be introduced into the province and enslaved children born after 1793 would be freed at age 25.

#OTD July 3, 1907, Alton Parker was born in Windsor, ON. In 1942 this lifelong resident of the McDougall Street Corridor became Windsor's first Black uniformed police officer and in 1951, Canada's first Black detective. Images: Parker in uniform; mural next to Alton Parker Park by Jermaine Baylis.

#OTD 100 years ago, July 2nd, 1925, civil rights activist Medgar Wiley Evers was born in Decatur, Mississippi. In 1954 Evers moved to Jackson to become the NAACP’s field secretary in Mississippi, bravely organizing voter registration drives and economic boycotts until his assassination in 1963.

Lyle Emerson Talbot was born June 27, 1915 near Dresden, Ontario. One of his two published books, Memoir of a Black Canadian Activist (2013) is a rich resource regarding the Black community's activism and his own leadership of anti-racist collectives such as the Windsor Council on Group Relations.

#OTD June 25, 1968, RCAF veteran and lawyer Lincoln Alexander was elected Canada's first Black Member of Parliament (for Hamilton West.) Born in 1922 in Toronto, Alexander would go on to significant future roles such as Canada's first Black Cabinet Minister and Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.

#OTD June 24, 1911, celebrated contralto singer Portia White was born in Truro, Nova Scotia. #DYK she was the first Black Canadian concert singer to win international acclaim? White was named a Person of National Historic Significance in 1995. Image: portrait of Portia White by Yousuf Karsh, 1946.

#OTD June 23, 1963 the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led the Walk to Freedom in Detroit, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the 1943 Detroit race riot. #DYK over 125,000 marchers participated, making it the largest civil rights demonstration in U.S. history prior to the March on Washington?

Observed annually on June 20th, World Refugee Day honours refugees around the globe. American abolitionist Benjamin Drew compiled over 100 oral accounts from freedom seekers who had fled the U.S., including six he met in Amherstburg, for his 1856 book The Refugee. docsouth.unc.edu/neh/drew/dre...

Have you ever read U.S. Major General Gordon Granger's Order No. 3, issued at Galveston, Texas, June 19, 1865? This was the order which freed enslaved African Americans in Texas... 2.5 years after the Emancipation Proclamation and more than 2 months after the Civil War ended. Happy Juneteenth.

#OTD June 19, 1865, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, over 250,000 enslaved people in Texas were finally liberated via Union Army Major Gen. Gordon Granger's General Order No. 3. Juneteenth was recognized as a federal holiday in the U.S. in 2021.

#OTD June 16-17, 1853, the General Convention for the Improvement of the Colored Inhabitants of Canada was held at First Baptist Church Amherstburg with Josiah Henson as Chair and James Theodore Holly as Secretary. To learn more, view the minutes at omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/6...

Thanks to everyone who joined us for our sold out Ribs and Ragtime event on June 14th. This annual event always honours Amherstburg’s own Shelton Brooks, ragtime/early jazz pioneer. A special highlight was the unveiling of new honorific signage declaring a section of King Street “Mac Simpson Way.”

Thanks to the Maple Leaf chapter of The Questers for joining us at the museum today! #DYK that when Maple Leaf #311 received its charter in Windsor, Ontario in 1967, it became the first Canadian chapter? During their visit, the group also donated $150 towards the conservation of a historic photo.

Thanks to members of the Canadian Educational Press Association from across Canada who visited us today! It should be no surprise that this group of writers, editors, graphic artists, professional relations and communications specialists asked great questions during the tour.

Our founder Melvin “Mac” Simpson established a small museum in the Nazrey church annex, acquired the Taylor Log Cabin, and pursued incorporation in 1975, then a new building in 1981. As of June 14th, Amherstburg's King Street between Gore and Murray will bear the honorary name "Mac Simpson Way."

Today at the Museum, we enjoyed welcoming an enthusiastic, curious, energetic, and fun group from the Carbondale, Illinois Chapter of the NAACP. Thanks for visiting!

#OTD June 2, 1882, Albert Jackson began his training as Toronto’s first Black letter carrier—a role he held for 36 years. Hired as a mail man on May 12, 1882, then demoted to janitor due to racism, he was reinstated after Black residents took collective action--even meeting with the Prime Minister.

The Greenwood District of Tulsa was a thriving Black community with over 1,200 businesses, churches, and homes until May 31-June 1, 1921, when a white mob destroyed the community, burned homes, looted businesses, killed as many as 300, and left thousands homeless. Honour the victims and survivors.