Living history: Family and private life
In addition to current events, Morrison drew inspiration from her own experiences and family history—and those of loved ones and friends—in her mission to research, record and share the histories of Black communities in Ontario.
Born in February 1929, just seven months before Canada formally recognized women as “persons” under the British North America Act, Morrison was an advocate for the overlooked. Her parents were themselves the children of formerly enslaved persons. Like her mother, Morrison worked in the service industry. When she had trouble finding a position because of her skin colour, this stirred her interest in the region’s Black history: What did the people before her do? How did they cope, and what did they accomplish?
Living history
Wilma Morrison (whose maiden name was Miller) was born in London, Ontario. The family moved to Hamilton when her parents needed to find work. Her brother Harold, 20 years her senior, became a railway porter. It was in Hamilton in 1955 that Wilma met her husband Lorne Morrison; together they moved to Niagara Falls in 1959. Lorne’s family, including his brothers Herb and Aubrey, became her second family. Wilma’s passion for the past led her to do extensive genealogical research into her and Lorne’s family histories, and the Morrison fonds contains many notes, records and photos related to this research.
Travel and leisure
Wilma and Lorne loved to travel. They bought a trailer and travelled across Canada and the US, even founding a trailer club. They also took vacations further afield, to Russia (then the USSR), China, Korea, Japan, Cuba and South Africa. Historians at heart, they kept a detailed travel diary with extensive notes about their travels. Avid photographers, their photo albums are filled with snapshots of camping trips, parties, holiday gatherings, picnics and sun-filled days at the beach with family and friends. Lorne loved bowling and golf, and had a model railroad set up in the basement. Wilma loved basketball and was a member of the Sepia Queens basketball team. The couple also loved jazz and football: they befriended Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong (who stayed with them when they came to play concerts in Hamilton), and had season tickets to the Buffalo Bills.
Black scrapbook album page bearing eight small black-and-white family photographs, attached to the page with white photo corners. The photos depict a young Black couple and their friends taking part in various seaside activities. Handwritten headings on the page read “Craigleith” and “Labour Day 1955,” and captions written below each photo read “Oh! You?”, “Confidentially,” and “The Leaners, all pizza.”
Black-and-white photo of a Black basketball player in team uniform holding a basketball, photographed mid-game. The photo bears a large handwritten signature in black ink.
Colour photo of a white silk ribbon sash bearing red printed letters that spell “Sepia Queen.”
Colour photographs of white, slightly discoloured pages bearing handwritten notes.
Colour photographs of white, slightly discoloured pages bearing typewritten notes.
Back to: Chapter 02
“Mrs. Black History of Niagara”: Knowledge keeper and storyteller
Next up: Chapter 04
Recognition
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