The village of Africville was founded on the Bedford Basin in Halifax Nova Scotia in 1761 when Campbell road first connected Central Halifax to the Africville area. The first official record of Africville is when over African American slaves who had escaped the from the thirteen colonies, and were freed by the British during the American Revolutionary War. The crown granted them, black loyalists, and refugees of the war of 1812 were promised land, equal rights Though the community was never officially established the first land transaction is dated to be 1848, just one year before Richard Preston established one of his many Black Baptist Churches in Africville.
In the late 1850’s the Nova Scotia Railway, later the Intercolonial Railway ran from Richmond through to the south and went through Africville as the railways mainline along the coast of the Bedford Basin of the railway. By the early 20th century, after the great war more folks populated the area for jobs and the development of new industries. Africville peaked in population during the Halifax Explosion in 1917.
Africville was a place of cultural significance in Canada. It was home to the first Black Canadian hockey team and the Coloured Hockey league from 1896-1930. The Africville Brown Bombers were a popular team from the maritimes in the CHL. Both Portia White and George Dixon, the first Black world champion of boxing were from Africville!
In the 1940s and 1950s in different parts of Canada the federal governments were working to do Canada wide urban renewal projects to redevelop poor neighbourhoods and to relocate the people to new, improved housing. Only 14 residents of the many who lived in the community had land titles and those with no legal rights were given a meagre $500 payment and promises of better living. In 1964, The Rose report was published and passed to have the African-Canadian community residents evicted and relocated. The residents of Africville were assisted to move out of their neighbourhood with dump trucks provided by the city and spoke to the injustice and racism Black Canadians faced when first settling on this land.
Decades after the demolition of the community, some of the land was turned into private property, ramps for the A. Murray McKay Bridge and the Fairview Container Terminal and he central area was turned into a dog park called Seaview park. The Halifax Council proposed an “Africville apology” where the Canadian government established a $250,000 Africville Heritage Trust to design a museum and build a replica of the Seaview African United Bapist Church, which was one of the only lasting historic sights from the Africville community in 1969.