Many former slaves and black people fled the States and settled in Nova Scotia around 1848. Discrimination and poverty continued to be a challenge for the black settlers, and they were forced to live on the outskirts of town where basic services, such as sewage, clean water and garbage disposal, were denied. To make problems worse, an infectious hospital, a garbage dump and a prison were built near the community.
The City of Halifax forced the residents of Africville to relocate under the guise that the move would improve their standard of living when it was to turn the community into an industrial location.
Very few residents have compensated the value of their home before relocation, and any who resisted leaving had their land expropriated to the city. Residents were relocated out of the community by a garbage truck. Black families continued to face racism in their new homes, to the point where white neighbours started a petition signed by ‘the white people of Hammond Plains’ to force a black family out of their home. If they chose not to leave, their house would be burnt down.
The Africville Genealogy Society formed in the 1980s and asked for recompense for the destruction of their community. A public apology was made in 2010, and Africville Seaview Church was rebuilt and is now known as the Africville Museum. The museum is located where the former residents of Africville lived. The inside of the museum contains exhibits to tell the history of the former black settlement.
