An Introduction to Salt Spring’s Black Community

from Charles Kahn’s book Salt Spring: The Story of an Island

Many of Salt Spring Island’s first settlers were Blacks who came from San Francisco. Some were former slaves or children of slaves but all were free citizens of the United States when they immigrated to British Columbia. They included merchants, miners, farmers, and teachers among others. All shared a desire to escape discriminatory California law and to live fully as free citizens. Like many settlers, they had little money. The offer of free land drew them to an island wilderness. Chapter 4, p. 57