Africville : place of memory

Abstract

This thesis investigates Africville and the mark made on a community by a place. Seaview Park now occupies the site that once was Africville, an African Canadian community rich in unity and tradition though poor in material means, a community that lived on both the physical and social fringe of Halifax. The community suffered racism and encroachment for more than a century before finally being dispossessed in 1969. Former residents retain an overwhelming sense of loss and frustration, combined with a strong connection to the land. This feeling compels them to congregate at the site each July for the week-long Africvil/e Reunion, during which former residents reminisce with family and former neighbors. This event is a celebration, but it is also a symbolic occupation, one which could be compared to the radical gesture of Ed Carvery, who protests the relocation by regularly camping on the site. A sundial stands in Seaview Park as the only marker of this history. A more culturally symbolic and functional gesture needs to be erected to speak to this community's sense of loss. It needs to hold out hope that former residents can one day release this ancient grievance.