Ralph Thomas, co-founder of the New Brunswick Black History Society, during the grand opening of the society's heritage room in Saint John on June 19, 2021. (Image: Brad Perry)
The New Brunswick Black History Society now has a permanent space to showcase the province’s Black history.
About 30 people gathered Saturday to officially open the society’s new heritage room in Saint John’s Brunswick Square.
Ralph Thomas, co-founder of the society, said this is something they and others in the community have been working on for years.
“It was a togetherness that brought this together here today,” Thomas told those who gathered for the grand opening.
While the society has set up temporary exhibits to mark Black History Month each February, they have never had a permanent space to showcase the province’s Black community until now.
The new heritage room features a number of displays ranging from information about the people who escaped slavery through the underground railroad to the history of New Brunswick’s Black athletes.
“Black folks did a lot of work to build this country,” Thomas said. “Some of them gave up their lives.”
A number of community members spoke during the grand opening, including Saint John Harbour MLA Arlene Dunn and Saint John-Rothesay MP Wayne Long.
“It’s hard to say it, but we should be ashamed of some of our past,” said Long, “but the way to reconcile and the way to move forward to reconciliation is not to run from it, not hide it, not ignore it.”
Now that the society has a permanent home to set up its displays, Thomas said they have their sights set on something bigger.
Their future goal, he said, is to have their own museum or be part of another one, such as the New Brunswick Museum.
“The plan is to bring all our stuff together, put it on display and then when there is a new museum building being put up, we want to be a part of it,” said Thomas.
“People are telling us ‘yes, you will have a certain area in the new museum when it gets here.’ We want to make sure we get it.”
The new heritage room is open from 1 to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
The New Brunswick Black History Society is marking the grand opening of its new heritage room in Saint John’s Brunswick Square. pic.twitter.com/xFCLW9wy2D
— Brad Perry (@BradMPerry) June 19, 2021
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