In A Mellow Tone
Wednesday February 7th, 2024 with Ian M.
The history of Africville in music: Joe Sealy, Bucky Adams, Oscar Peterson, the Duke Ellington Orchestra and others

Africville was a Black community located on the south shore of the Bedford Basin, on the outskirts of Halifax. The first record of a Black presence in Africville is in 1848, and it continued to exist for over 120 years. In the early 1960s the City of Halifax decided to expropriate all the homes to make way for industry - the Seaview Church was demolished in 1967 and the last house was demolished in 1970. Many of the stories of Africville are universal to the Black experience in Canada, including the dominant role that the railway played in the economic lives of Black men, and we will hear a set of songs about the railway, including Oscar Peterson's "Night Train". A general history of Africville is available here: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/africville Bob Brooks documented Africville of the 1960s and many of his photos are available here: https://archives.novascotia.ca/africville/default.asp The Africville Museum opened in 2012 in a replica of the Seaview Church. On its website (https://africvillemuseum.org) there are many resources, including a link to an audio "walking tour" (https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/7b456eb7201d45fea813bd0b3914fab4)