Londoners in new 'Black Lives Lived Here' exhibit never thought they'd be in a museum

CBC

13 hours ago

Isha Bhargava
New exhibit shows playful memories and snippets of daily lives of Black Londoners
A new display at Museum London offers a rare glimpse into the everyday lives of Black families who lived in the city during the mid-20th century.
The Black Lives Lived Here: London Family Photos from 1910s to 1960s exhibit is a visual history shown through family photographs of daily events, such as children playing or going to school, and special milestones ranging from weddings to birthday parties and trips abroad.
"Part of the idea of this exhibit was to get away from the representations of minstrels and mammies, so the Aunt Jemima kind of images that sometimes we have of Black folk, that have been produced through dominant forces in society," said the project's curator Zahra McDoom.
"These are everyday moments, people taking photos of each other and it shows a very different kind of life in London."
Many individuals featured in the display went on to become trailblazing entrepreneurs, prominent entertainers and decorated athletes, but others, were regular Londoners known as strong community pillars who overcame racial and societal adversities.
On Sunday, some of them can to see the exhibit and spoke to a crowd about their memories of their photos. Here are some of their stories:
Joey Hollingsworth
Image | Joey Hollingsworth
Caption: Joey Hollingsworth stands beside his photo while he toured Japan in the 1960s. The tap dancer says he never thought he'd see a day where his family photos were featured in a museum. (Isha Bhargava/CBC)
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Tap dancer, actor and singer, Joey Hollingsworth is the first Black man who competed in CBC's talent show Pick the Stars and regularly appeared on Canadian and some American television shows from the 1950s to the 1970s, including The Ed Sullivan Show on CBS.
Now in his late 80s and with a visual impairment, Hollingsworth couldn't see the photos but reflected on his beginnings as an adopted child who began dancing when he was a toddler. Some his pictures show him dancing, sitting in his vintage car, touring Tokyo in the 1960s and hanging with parents and siblings in their family home.
"This is my hometown and that's why it's so exciting to me. My parents, who I never thought would be in a museum, their photos are here," he said. "This is one of the finest exhibits that I'm just so pleased to be part of and it's exciting for Black people to be recognized."
Hollingsworth admitted he didn't fully realize the challenges other Black Londoners experienced in their lives, but that changed when he was asked to perform in a minstrel show in St. Thomas. The theatre shows were performed by white artists wearing blackface, portraying racial stereotypes of African Canadians.
His parents were against it but eventually agreed, so long as he didn't wear white gloves or blackface. Years later, he proudly performed in Canada's last minstrel show in Fredericton.
"They told me it was the last one because the government has banned them and I thought my dad would love that, so I did the last minstrel show in Canada and closed them."
Barry Howson
Londoner and basketball star Barry Howson made history as the first Black man on a Canadian National Basketball team, and competed in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, but his family's roots in the city dating back decades.
His mom, Christina, became a widow and single mother to eight children after her first husband James F. Jenkins died. Jenkins was founder of the Black Canadian newspaper, the Dawn of Tomorrow. Christina battled severe depression following his death but ultimately kept the paper running which is how she met her second husband and Howson's dad, Frank.
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Howson believes if she let the newspaper shut down, he would never have been born. Proudly pointing to his mothers photos, Howson shared how she overcame these challenges and the influence it had on his athletic pursuits.
"It makes me proud and with what she had to go through, I always took the saying 'If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail' so I follow that example," said Howson, who also recalled positive memories of neighbourhood kids gathering in front of his childhood house on Hamilton Road.
"A group of the Black people lived in the community and the stores [nearby] were very honest and helpful with the Black people and it was a nice close community. We didn't have any segregation or things like that and we learned to survive."
Legacy of Stan "Gabby" Anderson
Image | Anderson family
Caption: Jeff Anderson, second from the left, poses in front of his parents Stan and Lorrie's wedding photo alongside his mom Lorrie, third from the right, his wife, sister and son Jared. (Isha Bhargava/CBC)
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The life of baseball legend, Stan "Gabby" Anderson and his family is also featured in the exhibit, including videos of his kids in their Glenwood Avenue house. His eldest son Jeff said he was speechless when he saw photos of their "regular days" on such a large scale.
"I was so used to seeing pictures on a small little postcard size, and now to see them on a wall in a museum, it's very emotional," said Jeff Anderson, alongside his son Jared.
"We really learned the values that have kept our families this strongly knit for so long, all the troubles they've had to endure to bring us to this point. We carry along that history with us forever and now other people can have an inside look on how our family came about," added Jared.
The exhibit is on display at Museum London until April.