Anna Minerva Henderson (1887–1987) was a teacher, civil servant, and poet from Saint John, New Brunswick. According to the New Brunswick Black History Society, during Canada's centennial in 1967 she published a "chaplet" containing 22 poems which is believed to be the first book to be published by a Black woman who was born in Canada. In 2004, Henderson and New Brunswick publisher

Abraham Beverley Walker Abraham Beverley Walker (23 August 1851 – 21 April 1909) was a New Brunswick-born lawyer and journalist. He was the first black lawyer in New Brunswick, the second black lawyer in Canada, and the first black lawyer born in the current boundar ...

were the subject of the 2004 W. Stewart MacNutt Memorial Lecture at the University of New Brunswick by

George Elliot Clarke George Elliott Clarke, (born February 12, 1960) is a Canadian poet, playwright and literary critic who served as the Poet Laureate of Toronto from 2012 to 2015 and as the 2016–2017 Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate. His work is known larg ...

who at the time was serving as the

Poet Laureate of Toronto The Poet Laureate of Toronto is the city's literary ambassador and advocate for poetry, language and the arts. The poet laureate's mandate includes the creation of a legacy project that is unique to the individual. They also attend events across th ...

. In 2006, Clarke published "Anna Minerva Henderson: An Afro-New Brunswick Response to Canadian (Modernist) Poetry" in the journal '' Canadian Literature'', based upon this lecture.

Early life and career

Anna Minerva Henderson was born in 1887 in Saint John, New Brunswick to schoolteacher Henrietta Leake and an African American soldier and barber who died in 1893. Anna graduated from Saint John High School in 1905. She earned her teacher's certificate, but was barred from teaching in Halifax or Saint John on account of her race. She taught in Black communities in Nova Scotia for two years. She was hired by the

Civil Service of Canada The Public Service of Canada (known as the Civil Service of Canada prior to 1967) is the civilian workforce of the Government of Canada's departments, agencies, and other public bodies. While the Government of Canada has employed civil servants ...

in 1912 after receiving the third highest grade in the Dominion of Canada on the entrance test. She worked for the Department of the Interior's Dominion Lands Branch as a stenographer. In 1938 she worked for the

Department of Mines and Resources Natural Resources Canada (NRCan; french: Ressources naturelles Canada; french: RNCan, label=none)Natural Resources Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Natural Resources (). is the depar ...

' immigration branch, employed as principal clerk. Henderson worked as a stenographer for the Saint John law firm Fairweather & Stevenson in 1945. Henderson wrote "The Colymn" an ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

'' column and was published in magazines by the 1930s. ''Canadian Poetry Magazine'' published her sonnet "Parliament Hill, Ottawa" in 1937. She self-published her 31-page chapbook ''Citadel'' in 1967. She took a creative writing course from the University of New Brunswick in 1974.

Death and legacy

Henderson died in 1987 and was interred at

Fernhill Cemetery Fernhill Cemetery, known as the Rural Cemetery when it opened in 1848, is located at 200 Westmorland Road in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Renamed Fernhill in 1899, the 125 acre (0.5 km2) cemetery has a special section for veterans of ...

on July 21, 1987. In 2021, as part of their Being Black in Canada feature the CBC produced an article focused on Hendersen titled "Restoring the legacy of a 'trailblazing' Black Saint John writer" that focused on Hendersen's life as an educator, civil servant and author, and on the research currently underway to further explore and promote her legacy as an African-Canadian author.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Anna Minerva 1887 births 1987 deaths Canadian women poets Canadian columnists Canadian women columnists Canadian women civil servants Writers from Saint John, New Brunswick 20th-century Canadian civil servants 20th-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian women writers