A new online exhibit aims to highlight the contributions and history of Black pioneers in BC.

BC Black History Awareness Society (BCBHAS) has partnered with Digital Museums Canada for British Columbia’s Black Pioneers: Their Industry and Character influenced Canada’s Vision.

The exhibit features 20 stories, nine videos, and 86 gallery items that include images, photographs, maps, and archival documents and focuses on a group of 800 invited settlers and how they contributed to society’s formation and development in BC.

Reported to Daily Hive Vancouver, Silvia Mangue Alene, president of the BCBHAS, says this history is not currently part of BC schools’ curriculum.

“We, my organization, go around asking to present the history in schools. Sometimes we are welcome, and sometimes we are not. We hope that the Ministry of Education will at least have this history as an option in high schools so that youth that wants to learn this history can have the option,” explains Alene.

BCBHAS hosts several online events during Black History Month that “celebrate the achievements and contributions of historical and contemporary people of African descent.”

You can find a full list of the events on their website.

BCBHAS is also doing a live exhibition at the Royal BC Museum, set to open on June 3.