Colette Derworiz
Ron Mapp poses for a photo in Edmonton, on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. Mapp grew up in Amber Valley, Alta. and his great-grandfather was one of the scouts who visited the area and returned with the first wave of African-American settlers in 1910. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson February 04, 2021 - 8:36 AM
There isn t much left in Amber Valley.
There s a community hall, a few homes and a cemetery. Former residents say people driving by on the highway might not even notice it s there.
But they quickly add the almost forgotten community in northern Alberta has a rich history. Amber Valley was one of the biggest Black settlements in Western Canada, Ron Mapp, an Edmontonian who grew up in the community, said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Communities such as Alberta s Amber Valley highlight importance of telling Black stories in Canada
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John Ware, le cowboy noir méconnu de l Alberta
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“You’re the whitest Black person I know.”
“But you’re not like
Black Black. You may as well be white.”
“[Insert name of white girl who loves Wu-Tang Clan] is way more Black than you.”
I got this a lot growing up. The words varied, but the message was the same there’s a right way to be Black, and I’m doing it wrong.
Tomi Ajele
The writer s interest in hockey was one way she tried to blend into white Canadian culture.
Growing up in Alberta as a Black, second-generation Canadian was isolating and confusing. With the exception of my siblings, I was surrounded by white kids. I felt pressured to distance myself from anything that felt like Blackness, and cling to everything “Canadian.” Fall in love with hockey? Check. Regulate my voice to rid it of even a hint of my parents’ Nigerian accent? Check. Acquire the approval of a white boy? That was a hard one, but check.