The Negro Hockey League of the Maritimes (1890s-1920s)

Nova Scotia is considered the place of origin of modern ice hockey. The quantity of natural ponds ideal for skating, combined with the British gaming tradition helped facilitate the geographic and social conditions necessary for the development and creation of the game now known as Canadian Hockey.

The roots of Canadian Hockey originated with the North American Indians but early African-Canadian players also helped shape the sport. By the mid-1890's, in an era when many believed blacks could not endure the cold, these African-Canadian athletes defied myths and developed a revolutionary style of hockey that was fast moving, tough, acrobatic, exciting, and entertaining.

During the late 1890's games between black club teams in Nova Scotian towns and cities were arranged by formal invitation. By 1900, however, the Negro Hockey League of the Maritimes was created and was headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The Negro Hockey League produced players and athletes comparable to any in Canada. These Black Nova Scotians changed this winter game from the primitive "gentleman's past-time" of the nineteenth century to the modern fast moving game of today. Led by skilled and educated leadership, the Negro League emerged as a premier force in Canadian Hockey and supplied the resilience necessary to preserve a unique sports culture that still exists. Unfortunately, their contributions were ignored as hockey players copied elements of the black style and often took credit for black hockey innovations.

Some of these innovations important to the modern game of ice hockey included the "slap-shot" and the practice of goalies going down on the ice in order to stop the puck. Despite these and other important contributions to today's game of hockey, there are no monuments to the Negro Hockey League of the Maritimes.

Although the League continued to be prominent until the mid-1920s, racism, World War I, and dramatic changes in the Nova Scotian economy all played a part in the League's demise. Nonetheless the Negro Hockey League of the Maritimes changed the way hockey was seen and played in early Canada.

Comments

PHYLLIS LINDA HYMAN (July 6, 1949 – June 30, 1995)

Phyllis Hyman was born in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , and grew up in St. Clair Village , the South Hills section of Pittsburgh . Born to an Italian mother, (Louise), and African-American father, (Phillip), Hyman was the eldest of seven children. Through her paternal great-grandparents Ishmael and Cassandra (Cross) Hyman, she was also the first cousin once removed of actor Earle Hyman (best known for his recurring role on The Cosby Show as Cliff's father, Russell Huxtable). After leaving Pittsburgh, her music training started at a music school. On graduation, she performed on a national tour with the group New Direction in 1971. After the group disbanded, she joined All the People and worked with another local group, The Hondo Beat. At this time, she appeared in the film Lenny (1974). She also did a two-year stint leading a band called "Phyllis Hyman and the P/H Factor". She was discovered in 1975 by...

Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni, Jr. (born June 7, 1943 - )

Nikki Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee , to Yolande Cornelia, Sr. and Jones "Gus" Giovanni. She grew up in Lincoln Heights , a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio , though she returned to Knoxville to live with her grandparents in 1958, and attended the city's Austin High School . In 1960, she began her studies at her grandfather's alma mater, Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee . She had a difficult time adjusting to college life and was subsequently expelled. However, she realized that she needed an education, drove back to Nashville, spoke with the Dean of Women, and was readmitted. In 1967, she graduated with honors with a B.A. in History. She returned to Cincinnati and established the city's first Black Arts Festival. Giovanni also began writing the poems that are included in her first self-published volume, Black Feeling, Black Talk (1968). Afterward she went on to attend graduate school at the University o...

Queen Philippa: England's First Black Queen

England's First Black Queen, Mother of the Black Prince Philippa was the daughter of William of Hainault, a lord in part of what is now Belgium. When she was nine the King of England, Edward II, decided that he would marry his son, the future Edward III, to her, and sent one of his bishops, a Bishop Stapeldon, to look at her. He described her thus: "The lady whom we saw has not uncomely hair, betwixt blue-black and brown. Her head is cleaned shaped; her forehead high and broad, and standing somewhat forward. Her face narrows between the eyes, and the lower part of her face is still more narrow and slender than the forehead. Her eyes are blackish brown and deep. Her nose is fairly smooth and even, save that is somewhat broad at the tip and flattened, yet it is no snub nose. Her nostrils are also broad, her mouth fairly wide. Her lips somewhat full and especially the lower lip…a...

Enlightened Free Thinking Nubian Kings And Queens

Search This Blog