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Februrary is Black History Month and we want to take this opportunity to celebrate, honour, and pray over the Black Community in our city. Part of that is learning the history of our Black community here in Victoria!

Learning our history helps us to know our community: who we're serving, who we're reaching with the love of Jesus, and how we can do this with integrity and honour for our diverse community. 

For example, did you know that Sir James Douglas was biracial? Did you know that around 600 Black folks came to Victoria in the 1850s for the opportunities like the right to vote, to own their own land, and to settle to raise their families? 

Mark and I stumbled on this 13 minute documentary a year ago while scrolling through the "free" content on a hotel TV (of all the places to stumble upon something like this). "Secret Victoria: Rush to Freedom" taught us so much about the history of Canada's Black roots that neither of us had ever heard before! 

I hope this knowledge inspires you to learn more of the "secret" history of the land we are priviledged to call home - and honour well the stories that came before us. 

Want to dive deeper? A Ross Bay Cemetary tour, like the one depicted in the documentary, is being held on Sunday Feb 27 @ 2pm. More details at bcblackhistory.ca. Mark and I are planning to attend and we'd love to see you there!