Remembering the fight for freedom
Stewart Memorial holds Emancipation Day service: ‘We cannot forget those who came before us’
They drummed, they danced and they sang at Stewart Memorial Church on Sunday for the annual commemoration marking the end of slavery in the British Empire.
But this year’s celebration of the enactment of the Slavery Abolition Act on Aug. 1, 1834, took on a secondary cause as Canada’s 150th birthday was also recognized.
The John Street North church predates confederation by about 32 years as it was established in 1835, Rev. Richard Dove told the 75 people gathered.
“We were already making history and putting our imprint in the fabric of what is Canada before there was Canada as we know it,” he said.
Community activist Evelyn Myrie, who hosted the event, noted that Emancipation Day marks only the beginning of African people achieving freedom.
“It was years later that freedom was fully achieved,” she told the room.
Stewart Memorial was founded by runaway slaves as well as free black men and women in 1835 and served as a social and religious centre for them.
The church traces its history back to a log cabin building on Rebecca Street, but the congregation acquired its current building in 1879.
These founders are among the ancestors who should be remembered and thanked for their resilience in helping to create a better life for black Hamiltonians today, Myrie said.
“We cannot forget those who have come before us,” she added.
Myrie asked congregation member Jeffery Foster, who shared his story of coming to Hamilton from Trinidad in December 1970, how the city has morphed since he first arrived.
“When I came, you walked down the street and there were so very few black people,” he told the room. Not so today. “In the 47 years I’ve been here, I’ve seen a huge, huge change,” Foster said.