FERGUS — The Wellington County Museum and Archives will be celebrating the area's little-known black heritage through stories and songs on Saturday.
Despite being thought of as a Scottish town, Fergus has a long history of black settlers.
“A lot of the very first non-native settlers to parts of the county were black settlers,” said Kyle Smith, activity programmer at the museum. “One of the first founders of this town is this man with an incredible story by the name of Richard Pierpoint.”
Pierpoint was kidnapped from West Africa and sold into United States slavery in the 1700’s. When the American Revolution broke out, Pierpoint fought with the British in exchange for his freedom. He and others from his unit fled to Canada when the British lost the war, settling in the Niagara Falls area.
Decades later, Pierpoint once again fought with the British in the War of 1812 as a private in a unit known as the Coloured Corps. Local militia members, including Pierpoint, were given land grants for their service.
He was offered land in what is now Fergus near John Black Public School.
Initially, he didn’t want this land. Part of the reason we know much about his life is a document he wrote to British officials detailing his life and a request to be taken home to West Africa.
His request was ignored. Pierpoint along with other soldiers both black and white ended up as some of the first settlers in Fergus where he lived out the rest of his life.
Smith said researching the black history of the area is a recent endeavour the museum is pushing. Over centuries of history, a lot has been lost to time.
“Tragically, as far as artifacts go, we don’t have much black history stuff here,” Smith said. “It’s a lot of oral history and stories.”
Smith will be lecturing this story on Saturday following a multimedia performance called Sugar and Gold: The Story of the Underground Railroad in Canada by Diana Braithwaite and Chris Whiteley.
Braithwaite said she thinks it is important for Canadians to learn these stories to understand the importance and impact of Black Canadians have had throughout history. She started a black history website named after her mother called the Rella Braithwaite Black History Foundation to encourage further learning.
"I think it's important to talk about the diversity of this area and a lot of people sometimes forget that black history has such deep roots in Wellington County," Smith said. "I'm always trying to remind people that Black Canadians in Wellington County go back to the very beginning."
The event is Saturday, Feb. 8, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets cost $15 and are available at the museum or by calling (519)-846-0916.
