Guest editor: Cynthia Wallace-Casey, PhD
University of Ottawa
It’s been an honour to participate in the development of this two-volume series of The Officers’ Quarters, devoted to Black history in New Brunswick. When I was first invited to embark on this journey in 2019, those of us at the Fredericton Region Museum were amazed at what little representation of Black history existed within the museum’s walls. Certainly, significant groundwork had already commenced in 2017, however, with the publication of a special Black History edition of The Officers’ Quarters. Thanks to guest editor Mary Louise McCarthy-Brandt, and the York-Sunbury Historical Society publication team, the stage was set to explore lesser-known aspects of Fredericton’s past. In that issue, readers were introduced to the historic slavery trial of Nancy; as well as descendants of Black Loyalist Solomon Kendall who lived on “The Hill” in Lower Queensbury. Readers were also reminded of the extraordinary significance of St Peter’s Church in Springhill, where there existed an “equality in Christ” rarely witnessed in Canadian history. This landmark publication left many of us wanting to learn more.
