Q&A: This wood artist is carving out a monument for some of London's black pioneers

This year marks 200 years since London was founded. As part of the bi-centennial, local carver Mary-Ann Jack-Bleach is paying tribute to some of the city's black pioneers. Once complete, the carving will be displayed at the Silverwoods Community Centre this fall. Jack-Bleach spoke with CBC Afternoon Drive host Matt Allen about the individuals being featured in the carving.

The following has been edited for length and clarity

Matt Allen - Could you tell me about the people you will be carving? 

Mary-Ann Jack-Bleach - Well, James and Christina Jenkins started the newspaper called The Dawn of Tomorrow in 1923. The reason they did that is because a lot of the people who had come from the south when slavery was abolished were now free and could go wherever they wanted. So James realized that they needed to keep the community together and they needed to communicate. So this was an official communication for the people in Northern America and also in Canada.

MA - How important was it that there be a place where black folks could hear about their stories, and hear about what was going on in their community, especially at that time?

MJ - The reason I know it's important is because now the only records we seem to have are those of the Dawn of Tomorrow. Otherwise, all of the achievements, all of the great things that people did wouldn't be available. 

It was a way of documenting, and I think they had a huge vision about this. It wasn't just the newspaper, it was definitely a message. 

MA - Who else are you going to do?

MJ - So we're gonna do Barry Howson. Initially people didn't know that he was Christina's [Jenkins Howson] ninth child. They only knew him because he was an Olympic basketball player and the first black person to be on the 1964 Olympic team. He was a multi star athlete. Barry is still alive and I've met him five times and he's a sweetheart. 

MA - Who else will you be carving? 

MJ - Stan Gabby Anderson. He was incredible with his batting stats. He was an All Star 7 times being on the number one teams in London. They put him amongst the top London majors of all time first, you know, the 100 over the last how many years, 100 years?  But I spoke to two of his teammates and they think he's the best. When people talk about Gabby Anderson, you know, the whole expression changes. He was a legend and a nice man.

Plus we’ll add two more figures. Kay Livingston, who's a legend, and Harry Corsi, who isn't well known, but he probably was almost equal to Barry Howson in terms of his athleticism. And he almost became an Olympian in track. And he was a baseball pitcher that was so good. 

So we'll have James and Christina. James will be at a typewriter and Christina will be standing behind him and her hand on his shoulder. We'll have Gabby batting. We'll have Barry jumping his 10 foot jump in the air. And we'll also have Harry Corsi, he'll be getting ready to run. And Kay Livingston. I'm letting Michelle Jenkins, who's the granddaughter of the originators of the Dawn of Tomorrow, I'm going to let her choose how we're going to present Kay Livingston.

MA - Where will it go once it’s finished?