Quebec History X: Exploring Quebecs Black and slave past with historian and rapper Aly Ndiaye | Quebec | CBC

QUEBEC
HISTORYX

Exploring Quebecs Black and slave past with historian and rapper AlyNdiaye

Local historian, writer and rapper Aly Ndiaye has developed a walking tour of Old Quebec that highlights the history of slavery in Quebec City and the province of Quebec. On the tour, which Ndiaye calls Quebec History X, he takes people on a deep dive into the citys Black history and the lives of several well-known historical figures who owned slaves.

By Peter Tardif

Photo: DavidCannon; Design:AndrewMcManus/CBC

Over the past year, Quebec has witnessed a vigorous political argument over the definition of the word systemic and when or even if it should be attached to racism.

While Premier Franois Legault has acknowledged racism occurs in Quebec, he and members of his government have repeatedly and categorically denied there is systemic discrimination in La Belle Province.

In the summer of 2020, at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, when protests were happening south of the border, many Black people in this province used those events as a backdrop to voice their own concerns about racial problems and tension in Quebec.

Premier Legault, however, refused to accept any comparison between injustices in Quebec and those occurring in the U.S.

Aly Ndiayes Quebec History X tour takes participants down Saint-Jean Street into the heart of Old Quebec. (PeterTardif/CBC)

For one thing, the premier said, Quebec doesnt have the same history of slavery as the U.S.

That narrative has frustrated many people in Quebecs Black community who have said the premier is denying history, as well their lived experiences of racism.

They argue Quebec does have a Black history and it does indeed include slavery, dating back hundreds of years.

One of those people is Aly Ndiaye.

Hes a local Quebec City historian, writer and rapper known by his stage name, Webster.

Hes developed a tour of Old Quebec that dives into the citys Black history.

Its called Quebec History X.

A view of the Porte Saint-Jean, or Saint-Jean Gate, on Saint-Jean Street in Old Quebec. Some of the citys original fortifications were engineered by Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Lry in the 1700s. Aly Ndiaye says Chaussegros de Lry was a slave owner. (PeterTardif/CBC)

IT ALL STARTS HERE

Place DYouville, Palais Montcalm and Saint-Jean Gate

Aly Ndiaye: So I always start my tours here in front of Saint-Jean Gate at the Place DYouville, because to me, thats a good metaphor to whats going on about the history of slavery and the presence of people of African descent here, because were at the Place DYouville, which is named after Marguerite DYouville, who was the mother superior of the Grey Nuns in Montreal. Well, she had slaves. We stand in front of the Palais Montcalm. Montcalm was the French general that was beaten by Wolfe at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759 and had slaves. We stand in front of the fortifications which were engineered by Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Lry who also had slaves. So see, [the tour hasnt even begun yet and] you are surrounded by this history but we dont know about it.

Read Transcript

Ndiaye starts his tours in front Saint-Jean Gate in Old Quebec because the area was named after Marguerite DYouville, an iconic figure in Quebecs history and also a slave owner.

As much as characters like DYouville and General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm are celebrated and studied in this province, Ndiaye wants people to know the full story about them and about Quebec one that isnt told in the provinces history books. That story starts with understanding slaves were present in the early days of the colony and that iconic figures such as DYouville and Montcalm were slave owners.

Editors Note

The assertion that General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm owned slaves is based on a finding by celebrated historian Marcel Trudel, who wrote the authoritative book on slavery in Quebec. After this story was published, Montcalm biographer Dave Nol reached out to Aly Ndiaye to share a discovery: Trudels interpretation of the source material appears to be incorrect. According to Nol, the records do not show Montcalm owned slaves, but that Pierre de Rigaud, the Marquis of Vaudreuil and governor of New France, likely did.

A view of Place DYouville from Saint-Jean Gate. The square was named after Sister Marguerite DYouville, the founder of the Grey Nuns Order. (PeterTardif/CBC)

Canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1990, Marguerite DYouville was the first Canadian-born saint. Ndiaye says she was also a well-known slave owner. (PeterTardif/CBC)

The Palais Montcalm is steps away from Place DYouville. The concert hall was named after Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, the French general who died during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759. Aly Ndiaye says Montcalm was also known to have owned slaves. (PeterTardif/CBC)

Aly Ndiaye says much of the slave history behind iconic Quebec names like DYouville and Montcalm is unknown. Thats why he starts his tours here, at the threshold of Old Quebec, so people can get a sense of the role slavery played in this province. (PeterTardif/CBC)

Often, people think about slavery, like, in the Caribbean and the United States and Brazil, which was slaves on plantations, you know, the economic slavery. But here, we didnt have plantations, so most of the slaves were in households, Ndiaye said.

In fact, Ndiaye says historians have recorded more than 4,000 slaves who lived in Quebec, during a period of about 200 years, from early in the 17th century until the start of the 19th century. Most of them were Indigenous people from the American Midwest. Meanwhile, he says, Black slaves originally came from Africa and many arrived from the Thirteen Colonies or after transitioning through ports in the Caribbean.

You are surrounded by this history, but we dont know about it.
Aly Ndiaye

(PhilippeRuel)

ONE OF THE FIRST AFRICAN SLAVES INCANADA

From Madagascar to NewFrance

Aly Ndiaye: In 1629, the Kirke brothers took the city of Quebec and they brought with them a young African slave of about 10 years old from Madagascar, and they sold him to a trader. That guy was a French guy, but who worked for the British. His name was Le Baillif. When the French took the city back in 1632, the British went back to Europe, Le Baillif fled. He went back to Europe, too, because he was a traitor. He didnt want for the people to come, come back and take care of him. So before he went away, he gave this young boy to Guillaume Couillard.

Read Transcript

Guillaume Couillard is another well-known historical figure in New France and was one of the colonys first settlers. He was the son-in-law of Louis Hbert, another famous settler and farmer, after whom federal and provincial ridings are named in Quebec City.

Ndiaye says Couillard was one of the first people to own an African slave in Canada. The slaves real name is unknown but the name his master gave him is well-documented: Olivier Le Jeune.

He was named Le Jeune after a Jesuit priest and Olivier because of Olivier Letardif*, who was Guillaume Couillards son-in-law.

Authors Note

Over the course of researching and writing this story, journalist Peter Tardif made a startling discovery about his own familys ties to slavery in Quebec. Olivier Letardif is a well-documented ancestor of his and is the first Tardif to arrive in New France. That means one of the first African slaves in Canada, Olivier Le Jeune, was named after someone in Peters familytree.

The yard of the Collge Franois-de-Laval private school in Old Quebec. Aly Ndiaye says the students and people who play and walk here have very little idea of the history beneath their feet. (PeterTardif/CBC)

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

Collge Franois-de-Laval

Ndiaye says in addition to knowing his name, we also have a pretty good idea where Olivier LeJeune lived. The answer lies in the schoolyard of what is now the Collge Franois-de-Laval private high school in Old Quebec. Thats where LeJeunes master, Guillaume Couillard, lived. Theres actually a grey brick outline of Couillards house on the ground, showing where it once stood.

Aly Ndiaye says the grey brick outline on the ground marks where the house of one of New Frances first settlers, Guillaume Couillard, stood. Ndiaye says Couillard likely owned one of the first African slaves in Canada and he says that slave would have lived in Couillards house. Students play basketball here. (PeterTardif/CBC)

Aly Ndiaye: So, this rectangle marks the foundation of the house of Guillaume Couillard. But the thing that we dont know, that we need to realize, is that if that was his house, well, this is where a slave used to live, too, and if you look around we dont see anything that mentions it. So, there is a plaque to commemorate Franois de Laval. There are a lot of things written about the seminary, about this plot of land, about Guillaume Couillard, about Louis Hbert, about everything except Olivier Le Jeune.

Read Transcript

Ndiaye says Le Jeune was most likely the first African slave in Canada and yet his story is practically unknown. He wants the students who go to the school at the site to learn about the history that is underneath their feet when they play basketball.

Ndiaye says he has managed to get approval from the school to put up a plaque commemorating Olivier Le Jeune and he has been working with the city and the Ministry of Culture to have it installed.

Quebec Citys Htel de Ville, or City Hall, is in the heart of the Old Quebec neighbourhood. In front, theres a plaque commemorating the Collge des Jsuites. (PeterTardif/CBC)

SLAVERY IN ART

Htel de Ville

The next part of Ndiayes Quebec History X tour takes us across from the Collge Franois-de-Laval to City Hall, where a plaque honours the Collge des Jsuites, demolished in the late 1800s. The plaque depicts an image of a painting by Richard Short, which dates back to 1760, called A View of the Jesuit College and Church in Quebec City.

The plaque features a 1760 drawing by Richard Short. Ndiaye says whats striking about it is the character in the bottom right-hand corner.

Ndiaye says the person depicted in the image is Black and that his clothing and demeanour point to him likely being aslave.

Whats striking about that image, Ndiaye points out, is one of the characters in the bottom right-hand corner, a young Black slave.

Aly Ndiaye: And if we look closer still, we see that hes Black. Frank Mackey, whos a historian who wrote extensively about the Black presence here, especially in Montreal he was telling me that when Richard Short did those paintings this is not the only one he did right after the British conquest that was a bit of propaganda to show in Europe what was taken from the French. So there was an interest [in] showing this part of the world more glamorous and more wealthy than it was. So maybe that this picture here with this young boy, that wasnt even it didnt happen. But [Short] wanted to show that the residents of Quebec City were wealthy, they had slaves, because this young boy is depicted as he would have been in Europe at that time.

Read Transcript

The Aux Anciens Canadiens restaurant on Saint-Louis Street in Old Quebec is located in the iconic Maison Franois-Jacquet-Dit-Langevin, one of the oldest buildings in the city. At one point in its history, the Maison Jacquet was a barbershop owned by the Williams brothers, who were of Jamaican and Irish descent. (PeterTardif/CBC)

SUCCESS STORIES

The Williams Brothers

Part of Ndiayes tour highlights Quebecs slave past, but he also touches on Black history and people who were celebrated in the city for example, the Williams brothers.

Of Irish-Jamaican descent, John and James David Williams set up a barbershop from the late 1800s to early 20th century, in what is now the Aux Anciens Canadiens restaurant near the Chteau Frontenac.

An archive image of the Maison Jacquet shows a barbers pole in the front yard. Ndiaye says the Williams brothers owned their barbershop for 50 years and it was a celebrated Black-owned business in the city. (Archive & PeterTardif/CBC)

Even though the shop was Black-owned, white aristocrats patronized it and support in the community ran deep. Ndiaye says when John Williams died, his death was announced in the paper and the article didnt even mention he was Black, something he says shows how much Williams was respected.

This image depicts the inside of the Williams brothers barbershop. John Williams is the character on the left. It was drawn by Sydney Prior Hall for The Graphic in the late 1800s. (Courtesy of Jean-Franois Caron/SydneyPriorHall)

Aly Ndiaye: The main reason why this house is interesting is that between 1870 and 1920, for 50 years, it was a barbershop run by two brothers [who] were Jamaico-Irlandais So they were from Irish and Jamaican heritage. Their mother was Irish, their father was Jamaican. They were named the Williamses, John and James David Williams. And that was a barbershop that was quite popular. So the high society of Quebec would come here to get their hair cut, you know, and when John Williams died in 1913, what is interesting, there was an article and in the journal [it] says, An outstanding citizen of our city, the barber John Williams, died, this and that, but they never spoke a word about his Blackness, which is impressive for the time.

Read Transcript

We are not trying to define this society through racism, although it was constructed on racism.
Aly Ndiaye

(PhilippeRuel)

WHITE-WASHING HISTORY

Franois-Xavier Garneau

Ultimately, Ndiaye explains, recounting Quebecs slave past and Black history through his tour is a way to set the record straight and tell this provinces real history. He says the story thats being taught in classrooms downplays slavery to fit a certain narrative, one that pits a French struggle against English oppression.

Aly Ndiaye: And when Franois-Xavier Garneau started to write the history of Quebec and Canada in 1845, he said that our ancestors didnt want slaves here as to keep our blood pure. Thats what he wrote. But even at that time, people said to him, What are you talking about? There were slaves here. There are documents that prove there were slaves here. So even at that time, people said that that wasnt right of him to say it. In later versions, he wrote and said, Oh, those slaves were not that much, so, you know, flip the page. So since that was the great historian, hes the one who kind of almost single-handedly built the history of Quebec. So this is how it was kind of erased from the official history.

Read Transcript

As the province vows to fight contemporary racism, Ndiaye says Quebec can only be successful if Black history is taught and remembered.

Racism and systemic racism started somewhere and we need history to understand how it came about and that it has been here for a long time, he said. We are not trying to define this society through racism, although it was constructed on racism.

If you look at our history, its a racist history. We need to come to terms with that, he added. But we gotta move forward by understanding that history.

Quebec HistoryX

Credits

Written by PeterTardif
Copy Edited by NancyWood

Photography by DavidCannon, PhilippeRuel & PeterTardif

Senior Producer
AndrewMcManus

Producer
Kim Garritty

Lineup Editor
Nancy Wood

Sound Technician, Columnist, Researcher
Peter Tardif

Special Thanks
Aly Ndiaye

QUEBECHISTORYX

Exploring Quebecs Black and slave past with historian and rapper AlyNdiaye

IT ALL STARTS HERE

Place DYouville, Palais Montcalm and Saint-Jean Gate

ONE OF THE FIRST AFRICAN SLAVES INCANADA

From Madagascar to NewFrance

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

Collge Franois-de-Laval

SLAVERY IN ART

Htel de Ville

SUCCESS STORIES

The Williams Brothers

WHITE-WASHING HISTORY

Franois-Xavier Garneau

CBC MUSIC

Quebec HistoryX

QUEBEC
HISTORYX