Tapestries depict scenes from New Brunswick's black history

An exhibit at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery this month weaves a number of black historical figures and events into the province's history.

Nine tapestries by renowned fibre artist Ivan Crowell depict scenes and people from as far back as the Loyalists, who left the United States during and after the American Revolution, all the way to the mid-20th century professional sports scene.

"It gives a more accurate portrayal of New Brunswick's history," said guest curator Graham Nickerson.

"We have a version of history that's really sort of downplayed the significance of black migrations into the province."

Between one in five and one in 10 Loyalists who came to New Brunswick were black, said Nickerson.

And many of the white Loyalists brought slaves with them.

Black Loyalists settled in a number of areas insouthern New Brunswick, he said, including Nerepis, near Grand Bay-Westfield, Loch Lomondon the eastern outskirts of Saint John, the Kingston Peninsula,and Elm Hill, near Gagetown.

Based on the accounts of travelling preachers, there were other communities, as well, he said, up the St. John River Valley to Fredericton.

Sometapestries feature Thomas Peters, a prominent black historical figure,who travelled around those communities trying to deal with serious grievances over the way people were settled.

"He basically is the one who organizes black communities in both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and he leads the fight for civil rights for black Loyalists and slaves."

Tapestries portray some of New Brunswick's black history

6 years ago

Duration 0:59

These works of Ivan Crowell are on display at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton.

Ultimately, Peters was unable to get the problemsaddressed, and the social experiment that was the Loyalist migration failed, said Nickerson.

"At the end of the day, a lot of them decided they wanted to get away from white people and be free."

Peters helped organize the migration of about 1,000 black people to Sierra Leone in 1792.

That represented about a third of the total population of black people who had come to the Maritimes.About 50 people died on the crossing to Africa, he said.

Other tapestries feature pioneering black academics and tradespeople.

And there's one for the first black person in the National Hockey League, Fredericton's Willie O'Ree.

"We have this inordinate interest in hockey because it was a sport we didn't belong in,"Nickerson said.

"I remember when people used to say black people can't play hockey because of their ankles and things like that."

He said maybe that's why it means a lot to him that his son now plays hockey.

The guest curator also discovered a personal connection to the artist who made the tapestries.

Ivan Crowell wasn't black, but he came from the same area in Nova Scotia as Nickerson's ancestors, in Queens County.

Crowell donated the tapestries to St. Thomas University in 1994, said the Beaverbrook's manager of collections and exhibitions, John Leroux.

They normally hang in Sir James Dunn Hall.

They'll be on display at the gallery in downtown Fredericton until March 24.