Best Archaeological Museum Winnipeg Near Me

4worldlovers: This February, join us in celebrating Black History Month by learning about prominent Black figures in Manitoba and across Canada.

One iconic member of the Winnipeg music scene for much of his life was star athlete and talented pianist Piercy Augustus “Percy” Haynes. He was–and is–best known for his famed and well-loved restaurant Haynes Chicken Shack, located on 257 Lulu Street. The restaurant was a hotspot for local musicians, and even attracted the attention of internationally acclaimed singers.

But before Haynes opened up the restaurant with his wife Zena, he had already made a name for himself as a rising young athlete. His name was featured in the newspapers for several championships he won playing basketball and practicing amateur boxing.

Haynes was also the first modern Black Canadian to be enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy, He joined in the wake of WWII, an accomplishment achieved by campaining to military officials to remove the discriminatory law. It was after the war that Haynes opened up his restaurant, and it remained the source of much of his time and passion until his death in 1992.


One of the first Black American settlers in Manitoba was a man named William Sylvester ‘Billy’ Beal. In the year 1906, Beal migrated to Manitoba in hopes of a job prospect and new opportunities, settling down in Swan River Valley with a homestead granted to him in the Big Woody district. Originally hailing from Chelsea, Massachusetts, Beal grew up in Minneapolis and received his secondary education from there. His experience as a steam engineer allowed his arrival in Swan River Valley to be immediately met with the prospect of working at a saw mill within the locality.

What is most remarkable about Beal is the vast array of contributions he made to his community within the short time of his migration. He shared his love of reading by building the region’s first circulating library, and also founded a literary society and debating club. Education was another keen interest of his, and he was elected as treasurer to the Big Woody district’s Board of School Trustees. He served on it for over thirty years.


But William Beal is perhaps best known for his passion for photography. Despite being self-taught, Beal’s talent shone in his work, a product of the wealth of time he spent documenting the local people and life on the rural prairies. His subjects ranged from his neighbours to the log camps of his work.

After his retirement, Beal moved to The Pas in 1955. He died there and was buried in the town cemetery. But Beal’s contributions and impact on Swan River Valley in its formative years have begun to be recognized and preserved, a much deserved celebration to the accomplishments of one of Manitoba’s first Black pioneers.

The life of train porters in Canada was not an easy one in the 1800’s. It was a job wrought with arduous labour and long, grueling hours that left little time for rest, much less a full night of sleep. The intensive hours meant porters were separated from their family for long periods of time, often stretching to weeks and months without ever seeing them. But a job on the railway as a porter was one reserved for Black men, as it was nearly impossible to find employment elsewhere due to racist laws and segregation policies.

George Hutchinson Beckford, a Black Jamaican-Canadian who arrived in Winnipeg in 1913, was determined to find a different career than the above precedent. On his arrival to the city he worked as a railway porter for only a year before he left to begin working independently as a taxi driver and chauffeur. But this only lasted for four years, as he was drafted into the army in 1917.

When the First World War finally came to a close, Beckford returned to Winnipeg and took up work as a train porter. He left his job in 1926 to start up a cafe business, but it proved fruitful for only a few years, and he resumed work as a train porter yet again with the Canadian National Railway.

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