How early Black settlers found freedom, and new challenges, in B.C.

In a Salt Spring Island library hangs a large painting of a father and daughter dressed in 19th-century clothing — a glimpse of the little known history of Black people who moved to British Columbia seeking freedom. 

The painting, commissioned by Judy Sims, portrays her great-great-great grandfather Howard Estes and his daughter, Sylvia Stark, and serves as a reminder of the family's struggle with enslavement in the U.S., their escape, and the challenges they faced after arriving in B.C.

Sims, 78, says it's important to remember the province's early diversity, as well as the adversity faced by formerly enslaved settlers yearning for a new home. 

"It's a rich history that we're very proud of," she said. "Knowing and understanding and learning about people who don't look like you is critical."

But it's a history that could have been easily lost had it not been for a manuscript written by her great-grandmother.

For Aliyah Dunn-Salahuddin, a PhD candidate at Stanford University who has researched the movement of Black people from California to B.C., the stories of early Black settlers illustrate "how far people will go to attain a sense of dignity and freedom."

Along with Sims, she hopes the history of B.C.'s Black settlers and the reason they left the U.S. will be remembered by future generations, especially in times of racial and political discord. 

"This is just a small story of a small group of people. But to me, history is the compilation of millions of small stories that culminate into a larger and more important one," Dunn-Salahuddin said.

Sims says several members of her family have made their mark on B.C. history, including Sylvia Stark, who lived to the age of 106 and was a popular local storyteller; and Sylvia's daughter Emma Stark, who was the first Black teacher on Vancouver Island.

But Sims says she owes the preservation of the family's history to her great-grandmother Marie Stark-Wallace, Sylvia Stark's daughter, who wrote down her mother's stories when she was in her early 90s. 

"She wrote all of this down and what a blessing because otherwise we would have no history of the Stark family at all," said Sims.

Her manuscript was posthumously published in the Gulf Island Driftwood newspaper between November 1979 and January 1980. 

In the manuscript, Stark-Wallace outlines how Howard Estes was born enslaved to Scotsman Tom Estes in Clay County, Mo., while his wife and three children were owned by baker Charles Leopold in the same county.

In 1849, according to Stark-Wallace, Estes was sent to California during the gold rush with cattle and was permitted to make money for his freedom papers for his family.