QUEENSTON, Niagara-on-the-Lake — As we mark the start of Black History Month, we celebrate a major milestone in civil rights history.
We know Niagara-on-the-Lake as a quaint little village, but it was also the center of one of the very first pieces of legislation that paved the way to the end of slavery.
It is plain to see why the Niagara Parkway was once called "the prettiest Sunday drive in the world" by Winston Churchill. Dotted along the 35 mile trek from Fort Erie to Lake Ontario, are points of history, most notably, history related to the fight against slavery.
Senior Manager of Heritage for Niagara Parks, Jim Hill, says that this is true history.
"On both sides of the border, the river is this important gateway for travel, it had been for thousands of years for people," Hill said.
That was certainly the case for freedom seekers travelling the underground railroad, but also the road to abolition for much of Canada. Niagara-on-the-Lake was named Newark in the late 1700's and was the capital of Upper Canada.
"It's not only a major crossing point to here in Queenstown, but that's as far as the steamships would come from Toronto (York at the time). So, we know that a number of people ended up in Niagara Falls, New York, somehow got secreted away by friends to Lewiston and got on a steamer and ended up in Toronto," Hill said.
It was in Newark that the very first law of it's kind, was passed, it was the body that in 1793 passed the Act Against Slavery. Navy Hall, which is now part of the Fort George campus, was the home to the first provincial parliament of Upper Canada.
"it's the first act against slavery in the British world, to credit New Yorkers, they're also passing legislation around the same time, and they're similar," Hill said.
This act did not free the enslaved but it prevented enslaved people from being brought into or sent out of Upper Canada. It was a bill printed at The Mackenzie Printery, which is now a museum. they even have a copy on display, along with the oldest printing press in Canada and possibly all of North America.
This legislation certainly called for a celebration and at a spot where you can still raise a glass today, The Olde Angel Inn. It was known then as the Harmonious Coach House. Although records from that time are a bit sketchy, it is believed that the legislators celebrated the event over dinner at the Inn that evening.
This is just one of the many events and places that shaped our region.