20th Century Black History in Mississauga – Part 3

Read Part 1 here.
Read Part 2 here.

James Marshall, AVRO Canada employee

While Canada never had Jim Crow Laws like in the United States of America, there were no sanctions against segregation for many years, and as such individuals and social norms allowed racial segregation to permeate into nearly every facet of life. Black-only schools were established, Black renters and home buyers were turned away, Black workers were historically relegated to the service industry, Black soldiers were refused enlistment, theatres had Black and white sections, Black patrons were refused service at various establishments, and there were even Black-only sections in cemeteries, just to name a few examples within the country as a whole. While it is likely that these same issues applied to Black residents in historic Mississauga, there are very few mentions of this type of treatment actually happening. Likely, most of these incidents went unreported or unnoticed by the white majority.

However, there was one such local incident reported not by a local newspaper, but by the Toronto-based Canadian Negro newspaper. In May of 1954, an Avro Canada employee tournament was to be held at the Lakeview Golf Club. The previous year, James Marshall, a Black Avro Canada employee, won the 1953 Novice trophy and was scheduled to compete again in 1954. However, when the Lakeview Golf Club heard of Marshall’s involvement, they banned Marshall from competing.

Joe Holmes, Frank McKechnie and Victor Vignale at Crookes Park Wading Pool, Lakeview. Courtesy of Peel Regional Archives

The Golf club alleged that white patrons would never want to play on the same fairway as a Black man. The refusal was supposedly in line with a standing order from the Club’s owner, Mr. A. W. Purtle, according to greenskeeper James Firth who said that the rule banning Black players from the field originated the year prior when white club members had taken offense to a Black man playing on their fairway. It is unclear what this prior incident in 1953 had been, but it is possible that this was in reference to James Marshall’s previous win at the tournament. However, when the greenskeeper was interviewed again about the incident, he denied that the rule existed. When asked further, owner A. W. Purtle suggested that the practice was more widespread. When asked if they had such a rule, Mr. Purtle countered: “Why pick on us? Why don’t you ask some other golf clubs the same question?”

The article alleges that the incident caused a “storm of public protest” causing Avro Canada to cancel the 1954 golf tournament. An executive for the International Association of Machinists even sent the Golf Club a letter warning that its members would not host any tournament on a course which discriminated against Black athletes or residents. It seems likely that over time, as Black residents began arriving in Mississauga in greater numbers, this brand of segregation would have proved increasingly impractical.

Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood scene featuring Francois Clemmons, originally aired on May 9, 1969, Fred Rogers Productions

A few years later, Victor Vignale became the first person of colour to serve on Township Council in what would later become Mississauga. Sometime around 1959 or 1960, Victor Vignale, Joe Holmes and Frank McKennie are photographed opening the wading pool at A.E. Crookes Park in Lakeview.  The wading pool was donated by the Kinsmen Club of South Peel, whom Vignale acknowledged with a letter of thanks. One of the photos shows Vignale and the other men, together with numerous children behind them, trying out the wading pool for the first time. The men have their pants rolled up, and their shoes and socks discarded as they all stand in the pool, laughing and grasping one another.

One must remember that just across the border, the United States remained under Jim Crow Laws, which would have prohibited such a display. Swimming pools were among the most heavily segregated public spaces in America due to stereotypes that Black swimmers carried diseases and physically threaten white swimmers. Even where all were permitted to use the facilities, Black swimmers, in practice, were often denied entry in the name of maintaining order. As such, pools became the site of intense protests in the United States. While Jim Crow Laws were not present north of the border, Canada was certainly no stranger to segregation. For example, in 1923, an ordinance in Edmonton banned Black residents from swimming pools after white residents complained of mixed bathing. Even after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the United States, many pools in America remained segregated in practice.

When Fred Rogers aired an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood on May 9, 1969, the episode made history when Black police officer François Clemmons was asked by Mr. Rogers to join him in the wading pool and even share a towel together. Clemmons recalled, "It was a definite call to social action on Fred's part. That was his way of speaking about race relations in America." Nearly a decade before Mr. Rogers made headlines for breaking racial barriers across the border, Vignale was wading in the pool at A.E. Crookes Park in Lakeview, Mississauga surrounded by white colleagues and members of the public. As such, the significance of this moment at A.E. Crookes Parks should not be understated.

By the 1970s, Malton was at the centre of Mississauga’s race relations. A 1979 Mississauga Times article tried to explain the racial situation in Malton where roughly 55% of the population was born outside the country. While ethnic groups all lived together and ethnic businesses, such as Mel’s West Indian Groceries, were sprouting up across Malton’s Four Corners (Derry and Airport Roads), the article claims that minority groups tended to socialize separately. An unnamed community leader coined the phenomenon as a “force cohesiveness” with ethnic groups practicing “voluntary social segregation” with racial tensions remaining just below the surface. The article claims this is the reason why certain Malton neighborhoods remained dominated by one cultural group over another, such as Brandon Gate being heavily (10%) Jamaican, why Malton students allegedly kept to their own cultural groups in the cafeterias, or why Mississauga housed various cultural groups including the Black Development Association (BDA).

Today, we would likely share the same view of cultural heritage groups as BDA leader Vernese Davis, that cultural groups are ways in which Mississaugans are able to continue their cultures and traditions while becoming better accustomed to Canadian life together.