FACT SHEET:
BLACK ACHIEVEMENTS

• In 1858 Sir James Douglas was made governor of British Columbia.
• Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), poet, playwright, and novelist wrote The Count of Monte Cristo and co-wrote The Three Musketeers.
• In 1909 Matthew Henson, explorer co-discovers the North Pole.
• Elijah McCoy's (1843-1929) born in Colchester, Ontario name and invention started the phrase "the real McCoy". McCoy invented the lubricating cup or the drip cup and received the patent on his invention in 1872. There were many imitators of his invention but these devices were not as effective or efficient as McCoy's. It soon became standard practice for an equipment buyer to inquire if a machine contained "the Real McCoy." This expression soon spread outside the machine industry and came to have the general meaning of the "real thing" of perfection.
• Between 1880-1884 Lewis H. Latimer invented the first electric light with a carbon filament.
• In 1853 Mary Anne Shadd, a Quaker educated teacher becomes the editor of the (Canada west) Provincial Freeman newspaper.
• In 1859 Abraham D. Shadd is elected to Raleigh County, Ontario (Canada West) town council. It is the first time a Canadian Black is elected to public office.
• In 1861 Anderson Ruffin Abbott becomes the first Canadian born black graduate of a medical college (University of Toronto).
• In 1951 Addie Aylestock becomes a minister - perhaps the first black woman in Canada to gain this distinction.
• In 1957 Ed Searles becomes one of British Columbia's first black lawyers.
• In 1958 Willie O'Rea becomes the first black to play hockey in the NHL.
• In 1964 Lincoln Alexander becomes Canada's first Black Member of Parliament.
• In 1994 Emery Barnes becomes the first Black British Columbia Speaker of the BC Legislature.
• In 1995 Justice Selwyn Romilly is the first black to be appointed to the British Columbia Supreme Court.