Joe Wordsworth, John Cosley and other African American entrepreneurs who built early businesses in Oakville — from barber shops to patented inventions and newspapers.
Oakville’s First Black Entrepreneurs Read More »
Escaped slave James Wesley Hill — ‘Canada Jim’ — led 700–800 African Americans to Oakville via the Underground Railroad and helped build its strawberry industry.
“Conductor” James Wesley Hill Read More »
How the Underground Railroad moved African Americans from U.S. slavery to freedom in Canada, doubling Ontario’s Black population after the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act.
The Underground Railway Read More »
Oakville became a Port of Entry in 1834 and a gateway to Canada for African Americans escaping slavery, with Captain Robert Wilson among its notable conductors.
Underground Railway to Oakville Read More »
How Loyalists brought African Americans — free and enslaved — to Upper Canada after 1783, and how Simcoe’s 1793 Anti-Slavery Act made Ontario the ‘Promised Land.’
Settlement & Slavery in Upper Canada Read More »
