I created this image for Black History Month, Warriors: Colours on Black Women.
Group exhibition at MosaikArt Gallery in Montreal.
Rose Fortune
Rose Fortune was born 1774. She arrived in Canada at the age of 10, originally a loyalist from the United States,. Her family settled in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia. Earning a living was difficult for black Loyalist who came to Canada. Yet, that didn’t stop Rose Fortune from developing two lucrative businesses in the area. She began working as a baggage carrier, transporting luggage and provisions from ships, that she would deliver in her wheelbarrow. She also, implemented a ‘’wake-up call’’ service in which she would alert people in danger of missing departing ships. Her luggage transportation business became lucrative and became known as Lewis Transfer in 1841. Rose Fortune grandchildren have carried on the family business for the next 100 years.
Today, her legacy continues, The Association of Black Law Enforcers have created a scholarship in her name and her descendant Daurene Lewis became the first black female mayor in North America.
Rose Fortune died in 1864.
