How My Brother Built a Beacon to All Black Canadians

 

 

On February 1, I had the honour of announcing a government of Canada grant to the Africville Heritage Trust Society for the creation of a play that tells the story of “Black Refugees of Africville.” It was a proud moment for me, especially because my brother, the Reverend Dr. William P. Oliver, knew Africville’s story so well.

My brother was a remarkable person — a gifted preacher, a champion of education, and a powerful advocate for the rights of Blacks. He exhibited leadership skills even as a schoolboy. In his senior year at Wolfville High School in Nova Scotia, for example, he was captain of both the football and hockey teams when both teams won their league titles.

He continued to excel when he studied at Acadia University in the 1930s as a member of the water polo and hockey teams. But unlike high school, university games frequently required overnight trips, and teams with Black athletes weren’t allowed to stay in certain hotels. So he concentrated on track and field and won most of the races in the province

Soon after earning his BA and then his Bachelor of Divinity, he took over from my grandfather as pastor of the Street Baptist Church in Halifax, where he served from 1937 to 1962. My brother believed in education. He believed that everyone had the right to earn a fair wage. Above all, he believed in the equality of the races.

For more than 50 years, my brother and his wife, Dr. Pearleen Oliver, fought hard to remove these barriers of discrimination. They co-founded the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People. One of their first victories, together with the Toronto Negro Veterans Association, was to get nursing schools to accept Black women. They also succeeded in bringing national attention to the “Jim Crow” practices in Nova Scotia, such as segregated schools, neighbourhoods and theatres.