{"id":166683,"date":"2012-06-01T16:18:25","date_gmt":"2012-06-01T20:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yfiledev.uit.yorku.ca\/?p=166683"},"modified":"2025-04-02T09:26:47","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T13:26:47","slug":"authors-memoir-on-race-relations-donated-to-archives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yorku.ca\/yfile\/2012\/06\/01\/authors-memoir-on-race-relations-donated-to-archives\/","title":{"rendered":"Archives the new home for memoir on race relations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Book<\/a>When asked about his overarching goal for writing his autobiography, A Struggle to Walk with Dignity \u2013 The True Story of a Jamaican-born Canadian<\/em>, Gerald \u00a0Archambeau responds, \u201cTo inspire youth to never give up on the goodness of human beings regardless of race.\u201d\u00a0 With this aspiration in mind, Archambeau has donated a collection of his works \u2013 a memoir and three scrapbooks \u2013 to Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections.<\/p>\n

The scrapbooks narrate Archambeau\u2019s life through a series of photographs, postcards and newspaper clippings pertaining to race relations and his employers the Canadian National Railway (CN), Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and Air Canada. The scrapbooks refer to the collective fight for human rights equality and Archambeau\u2019s quotes written throughout added personal reflections of his own struggle. These scrapbooks, chronicling his life, served as the catalyst for writing A Struggle to Walk with Dignity \u2013 The True Story of a Jamaican-born Canadian<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Catherine Davidson, York University's associate university librarian of collections, believes that Archambeau\u2019s donation will be a valuable instructional resource for undergraduate humanities programs, specifically courses in Canadian history and race relations. \u201cArchambeau\u2019s memoir and scrapbooks shine a light on the racial segregation and inequality that were prevalent in Canada at the time,\u201d said Davidson. \u201cArchambeau\u2019s scrapbooks in particular are a fascinating read; they bring the issues to life for the reader.\u201d<\/p>\n

Archambeau was born in Jamaica to a Panamanian father of African, French, and Aboriginal ancestry and mother of Caucasian and African ancestry \u2013 although he was raised by his grandmother and three aunts.<\/p>\n

As a teenager he was forced to immigrate to Canada by his mother and stepfather, a Barbadian who fought for the Canadian army in the Second World War and for that reason was granted Canadian citizenship. Archambeau moved to Canada so the three could qualify for veteran housing in Montreal.<\/p>\n

Because of his love for trains, Archambeau was employed as a porter for CN and CPR for over 15 years.\u00a0 He writes next to a newspaper clipping about the porters in one of his scrapbooks, \u201cThe true gentlemen of the rails \u2013 service with a smile even though we were insulted at times.\u201d Despite racial clauses in some union contracts, Archambeau\u2019s time on the rails was quite happy. \u201cWe served Canada\u2019s wealthy who could afford to ride in sleeping cars, club cars, parlour cars, and eat in the dining cars. Porters who provided good service were tipped and always had money in their pockets.\u00a0 Very few incidences of open racism occurred on the railways and if there were any problems (the porters) could report it to the train conductor who would handle it according to railway rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gerald<\/a>Gerald Archambeau<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the 1960s the railway business started to decline in popularity and in 1967 Archambeau began working for Air Canada as a station attendant, later being promoted to lead ramp foreman. It was at this point that he said that he had to fight for equality because of improper workplace practices and behaviours.<\/p>\n

When Archambeau retired in 1993, his wife Marion encouraged him to write his autobiography, the book was published in 2008 by Blue Butterfly Publishing. \u201cThe most important thing to me in life is my integrity as a human being \u2013 not as a race or a colour, but as a person,\u201d said Archambeau. \u201dMy book is a very humanistic story about interactions between people of the human race.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about the donation or how to integrate it into coursework and research, contact Anna St.Onge, archivist of digital projects & outreach, Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections, by e-mail to astonge@yorku.ca<\/a>. To order a copy of Archambeau's book, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author Gerald Archambeau has donated a collection of his works documenting Canadian race relations in the 1950s and 1960s to York's Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":166713,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[21],"yfileauthor":[],"qualifier":[],"yfile-author":[],"tags-to-show":[154],"workflow":[],"class_list":["post-166683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-picks","tag-research","tags-to-show-research"],"acf":{"internal_publish_date":null,"original_image":null},"yoast_head":"\nArchives the new home for memoir on race relations - YFile<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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