The Founding of Vancouver is interesting for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Vancouver, wasn’t even Vancouver until the late 1800s. Whereas Victoria was already established, the area that is now Vancouver and Greater Vancouver, was inhabited primarily by First Nations, with New Westminster and Fort Langley being the centres of government.
As lumbering became the primary economy of the area, sawmills started popping up in North Vancouver and the Burrard Inlet.
When John “Gassy Jack” Deighton set up his saloon on the beach (what is now Alexander Street) about a 1.5 kilometres away from another sawmill, “Gassy’s Town” settlement began. The area grew quickly in population and as it was also situated on a natural harbour, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which had a major land stake in the area, chose to make this its terminus.
Not much is known about why or when the original black pioneers arrived or settled in Vancouver – there were few families – but what is known is that those who settled, managed to make a difference in the burgeoning town.
The Sullivan family is one such pioneer family. They lived and worked in Gastown before Vancouver was incorporated and their children were signatories to Vancouver’s incorporation document.
After Vancouver incorporated, the Canadian Pacific Railway continued to extend its rails there and many people continued arriving in their pursuit of gold. During this period, Vancouver saw a dramatic and quick growth and expansion. Blacks began migrating in the early 1900s, making their homes in Strathcona, an east side, working-class neighborhood that was the original home to Vancouver’s Italian community, situated on the southern edge of Chinatown. They were also joined by Black homesteaders from Alberta, who originally came from Oklahoma. However, black settlers in Vancouver couldn’t exactly find work so easily. Where did they look to make a living? At that time, most black (men) were working as CPR sleeping car porters.
In the United States, George Pullman invented the sleeper car; with the first one completed in 1864. Also named “Palace Cars,” these sleeper cars offered a new level of traveling luxury, and as such, require a new level of service. Pullman hired African-American freemen, many of whom had been former domestic slaves in the south. As these positions paid well and offered an opportunity to travel, the position was considered prestigious and well-respected. These men needed to be able to do everything from collecting tickets, to fetching sandwiches, mending torn trousers and shining shoes. At that time, it was considered that the demands of versatility, responsibility, and loyalty could best be handled by former domestic slaves. Pullman became the biggest single employer of African Americans in post-Civil War America.
When the Pullman car arrived in Canada, many blacks settled in Strathcona, close to the Canadian Pacific Railway terminus in order to secure jobs. Black men from across Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, and as far away as Wales and the Dutch East Indies were hired as Sleeping Car Porters for Canadian railway companies. Even in Canada, racist attitudes prevailed despite their level of past achievements, porters tended to be highly educated men, with university degrees in science, medicine or business administration.
With so many people employed as Sleeping Car Porters, there were people who noticed the need for a place where porters could socialize and rest during stopovers in Vancouver, and black people in town generally needed a social hub to call their own. Elijah “Lige” Scurry opened the Railway Porters Club. Unfortunately for Scurry, police raided the club in 1904 on the grounds that black prostitutes were frequent visitors. Police found no evidence, but Scurry was nevertheless convicted of selling liquor without a license. Nevertheless, other clubs did pop up in its stead like the Lincoln Club or the Pullman Porter’s Club.
Although Pullman Porters were generally responsible for the families which they served on each voyage, often getting very little sleep while they stayed attentive to families’ needs, these men did not receive the respect they deserved. For instance, their names were not known and they were all called “George,” after George Pullman or “boy.” The Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees wouldn’t allow blacks to join; so it wasn’t until 1917 when the Order of Sleeping Car Porters was established in Winnipeg by porters John Arthur Robinson, J.W. Barber, B.F. Jones and P. White. However, the Canadian Pacific Railway was opposed to unionization and dismissed many porters in the early 1920s for their union activity. Many employees thus had to organize in secret, with the support of their counterparts in the United States.
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