Oakville Black History

The following information is reproduced from the display panels in the exhibit “Oakville’s Black History”, as written and designed by Deborah Hudson, Curator of Collections, Oakville Museum at Erchless Estate.

January 1, 1775

Settlement & Slavery in Upper Canada

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.’

January 1, 1775

January 1, 1827

Underground Railway to Oakville

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.

January 1, 1827

January 1, 1833

The Underground Railway

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.

January 1, 1833

January 1, 1850

“Conductor” James Wesley Hill

Escaped slave James Wesley Hill — ‘Canada Jim’ — led 700–800 African Americans to Oakville via the Underground Railroad and helped build its strawberry industry.

January 1, 1850

June 1, 1850

Oakville’s First Black Entrepreneurs

Joe Wordsworth, John Cosley and other African American entrepreneurs who built early businesses in Oakville — from barber shops to patented inventions and newspapers.

June 1, 1850

September 1, 1850

Oakville’s Early Black Community

Early African American residents of Oakville — Benedict Duncan, Christopher Columbus Lee, William Strothers and John Wesley Wallace — and their role in the community.

September 1, 1850

January 1, 1855

Leaders in the Community

Samuel Adams and Rev. William Butler — Bronte’s blacksmith and church leader — whose work led to the Turner African Methodist Episcopal Church in Oakville.

January 1, 1855

January 1, 1860

The Turner Chapel Community

The Turner Chapel community — Samuel Adams, the Butler and Duncan families — and their lasting influence on Oakville through the American Civil War and beyond.

January 1, 1860

Oakville Black History - Links to Other Communities.

January 1, 1882

The Nathaniel Dett Chorale

The Nathaniel Dett Chorale honours composer Nathaniel Dett (b. Drummondville, 1882) — Howard-awarded, performing at Carnegie Hall and before U.S. presidents.

January 1, 1882

January 1, 1891

The Turner African Methodist Episcopal Church

Built in 1891, Turner AME Church served Oakville and Bronte’s Black community for nearly a century. It still stands at 37 Lakeshore Road West.

January 1, 1891

January 1, 1908

Links to Other Communities

John C. Holland, Bishop James Albert Johnson, and Sgt. Henry Thomas Shepherd: Oakville-rooted African Americans whose influence reached Hamilton and beyond.

January 1, 1908

January 1, 1915

The Duncan Family

The Duncan Family — Oakville’s only family tracing directly to the Underground Railroad — their six children and their lasting contribution to the community.

January 1, 1915

January 1, 1924

Generations of Community Involvement

Olympic boxer Gene ‘Clay’ Bonner and performer Minerva Bonner brought African American excellence to Oakville from Montreal, shaping the community into the 1970s.

January 1, 1924

January 1, 1929

The Wayner Family

Lorenzo and Martha Wayner — a garbage collector turned Turner Chapel pastor — helped keep Oakville’s Black church alive through the Great Depression.

January 1, 1929

June 1, 1929

Generations of Community Achievement

Lorenzo Wayner and Martha Johnson — whose work kept the Turner Chapel debt-free through the Great Depression — and the Wayner family’s legacy of service in Oakville.

June 1, 1929