Obadiah Place is a historic site in
Amber Valley, Alberta
Amber Valley is an unincorporated community in northern Alberta, Canada, approximately north of Edmonton. Its elevation is . Originally named Pine Creek, Amber Valley was among several Alberta communities settled in the early 20th century by early ...
. It was the homestead of
Willis Reese Bowen and later the home of his son
Obadiah Bowen
Obadiah Bowen (born May 16, 1907, Lincoln County, Oklahoma, USA; d. Apr. 7, 2004, Athabasca, Alberta, Canada) was one of the original settlers to Amber Valley, Alberta, as well as a pastor and community leader. He was one of the first Black settler ...
, a pastor for the town.
Willis (sometimes spelled Willace) Reese Bowen brought his family and four other black Oklahoman families to the Amber Valley in 1911.
They had applied for homesteads under
Clifford Sifton
Sir Clifford Sifton, (March 10, 1861 – April 17, 1929), was a Canadian lawyer and a long-time Liberal politician, best known for being Minister of the Interior under Sir Wilfrid Laurier. He was responsible for encouraging the massive amount o ...
's immigration campaign to bring new settlers to the Canadian Prairies. Sifton had not anticipated that African Americans would migrate to Canada. Most immigrants were of European ancestry, from Britain, the United States and Europe, including Ukraine and Russia.
Sifton later sent immigration officers to the US South to try to dissuade black farmers from emigrating to Canada. He and the Department of Immigration also implemented racist policies that created barriers to such immigration, while not explicitly prohibiting entry of people of African descent. These policies were not overturned until 1962.
Violet King Henry
Violet Pauline King Henry (October 18, 1929 – March 30, 1982) was the first black woman lawyer in Canada, the first black person to graduate law in Alberta and the first black person to be admitted to the Alberta Bar. She was also the first wom ...
, whose family was among the first settlers with the Bowens, was the first Black Canadian women to earn a law degree, and helped to develop more progressive policies.
Description
Obadiah Place is a wooden -storey square house, located on a parcel of land on the Obadiah Bowen farm. It has four farm outbuildings and a phone booth. It is the oldest surviving house in the community. The house's vernacular wood construction is now rare in Canada.
[
The site also includes a picnic area, park space and a baseball diamond that honours the early 20th-century Amber Valley Baseball Team.][ After Obadiah Bowen left the property, the Friends of Obadiah Place Society and the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation purchased the property to protect and preserve this important historic site.][
]
See also
* List of historic places in Northern Alberta
The following historic places in Northern Alberta are entered on the Canadian Register of Historic Places, whether they are federal, provincial, or municipal:
References
{{for-text, references, externally ...
References
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Black Canadian culture in Alberta
Black Canadian settlements
Houses completed in 1938