Little Burgundy and Montreal's Black English-Speaking Community

Little Burgundy is a neighbourhood in the southwest borough of Montreal. It is the historical home of the city’s Black English-speaking, working-class community, dating to the emergence of the railway companies in the mid- to late 19th century and the era of the Black sleeping car porters. The author outlines the history of the Little Burgundy neighbourhood by Blacks, the discrimination they endured and the organizations they established, such as The Coloured Women’s Club of Montreal, Union Congregational Church, the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the Negro Community Centre. From the 1920s to the 1950s, Little Burgundy was one of the three great jazz meccas in North America, alongside Chicago and New Orleans. Little Burgundy-born musicians such as Oscar Peterson, Oliver Jones, Charles Biddle and Daisy Sweeney, and nightclubs such as Rockhead’s Paradise, attracted tourists from across North America. Most of the Black community moved out of Little Burgundy by the 1970s, the result of massive urban renewal of the neighbourhood.

The Canadian Encyclopedia

Historica Canada

February 2020

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/little-burgundy-and-montreal-s-black-english-speaking-community#:~:text=Little%20Burgundy%20and%20Montreal%27s%20Black%20English%2DSpeaking%20Community,-Article%20by&text=Little%20Burgundy%20is%20a%20neighbourhood,(see%20also%20Black%20Canadians)

en