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AFRICA’S CHILDREN

A History of Blacks in

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia

Sharon Robart-Johnson

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Published by Natural Heritage Books

A Member of The Dundurn Group

Edited by Jane Gibson

Copy-edited by Shannon Whibbs

Design by Jennifer Scott

Printed and bound in Canada by Transcontinental

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Robart-Johnson, Sharon

Africa’s children : a history of blacks in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia / by Sharon Robart-Johnson.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-55002-862-1

1. Black Canadians--Nova Scotia--Yarmouth-- History. 2. Yarmouth (N.S.)--History. I. Title.

FC2350.B6R63 2009 971.6’3100496 C2008-905868-2

1 2 3 4 5 13 12 11 10 09

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program, and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

J. Kirk Howard, President

www.dundurn.com

Front cover photo credits, clockwise from top left: The Missionaires, photo courtesy of Ernest Johnson; Disney Chapel, photo courtesy of Yarmouth County Museum and Archives; Private John Clarence Johnson, photo courtesy of Clarence Bodden; Benjamin Rogers and wife at their homestead, photo courtesy of Yarmouth County Museum and Archives; Jeanette Johnson, photo courtesy of Margery Lawrence.

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DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my parents Lendley Irving Robart, son of John Murray Robart and Alice Augusta (née Wesley) Robart; and Mary Eileen (Smith) Robart, daughter of James Rudolph Smith and Mary Rose (Muise) Smith.

Mary Eileen (Smith) Robart and Lendley Irving Robart. This photo of my parents was taken in the summer of 1979, several months before my father’s death from cancer in March 1980. They were the proud parents of seven children, five girls and two boys. The two boys, unfortunately, passed away at three months of age. My parents’ ingenuity and dedication saw my sisters and me through some extremely rough times. Being able to draw from their strength has made us all better people.

This book is also dedicated to my sister, Rose M. Robart, who wrote the poem “Jude” and went through the manuscript to make sure that each “i” was dotted, each “t” was crossed, and punctuation was in the correct places. Without her help, the work may not have come this far. I love you, Rose. You will be deeply missed and always in my heart.

My sister, Rose M. Robart, wrote the poem “Jude.” Born January 7, 1940, she passed away suddenly at her home in Montreal October 29, 2008. Rose waited patiently and with joyful anticipation for the release of this book, but for her to see the finished product wasn’t meant to be.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword by Craig Marshall Smith

Chapter 2 Early Treatment of Blacks

Chapter 3 Racism Beyond the Grave

Chapter 4 Community of Greenville: Earliest Black Settlement in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia

Chapter 5 Black Churches in Yarmouth

Chapter 6 Greenville School: Yarmouth County’s Only All-Black School

Chapter 7 Military: Yarmouth’s Men in the First World War