Diversity in Early Black Communities
In this selection from the Strathcona Project Collection at the BC Archives, you will hear excerpts of interviews with Black women coming from different parts of Canada and the US to settle in BC. You will hear when and why they came and where they settled. Two of them, Nora Hendrix and Rosa Pryor, were also leaders in their communities.
Doris Lawson Interview
Doris Lawson talks about growing up on the prairies and her journey to Vancouver, where she settled in Hogan’s Alley. Recorded in 1977. Learn more about this interview here. Credit: BCA AAAB2920Nora Hendrix Interview
Nora Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix’s grandmother, co-founded Vancouver’s oldest church, the African Methodist Episcopal Fountain Chapel. She was an important member of the community. She was born in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1883. She spent time in Chicago and Seattle, and moved to Hogan’s Alley in Vancouver in 1911. Here she details her early days in Vancouver and the Strathcona neighbourhood. Recorded in 1977. Learn more about this interview here. Credit: BCA AAAB2970Dorothy Nealy Interview
Dorothy Nealy was born in 1917 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, as were her parents. Her mother was Indigenous. Her father’s parents were from Tennessee. After enjoying a visit to Vancouver in 1938, she decided to return and settle there in 1944. Recorded in 1977. Learn more about this interview here. Credit: BCA AAAB2864Rosa Pryor Interview
Rosa Pryor was one of several Black female entrepreneurs who ran successful restaurants known as “chicken houses.” She was born in Iowa in 1887. She came to Vancouver in 1917, following her husband who relocated for work from Seattle. Her establishment, The Chicken Inn, was a popular hangout where many Black Vancouverites also worked over the years. Recorded in 1977. Learn more about this interview here. Credit: BCA AAAB2919