“Our Negro Citizens” Newspaper Columns

Rev. George W. Slater Jr.: Pastor of Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church

Reverend George W. Slater Jr. was the pastor of the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal (EAME) church of Edmonton. Starting in 1921 and continuing through to at least 1924, Rev. George W. Slater Jr. was identified as the compiler of “Our Negro Citizens,” meaning he had some control over which activities were included or excluded. As a member of Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal, he associated himself with a denomination that was founded on both theological and sociological beliefs. The underlying ideology of Slater’s church rejected the then-popular negative theological interpretations that tended to dehumanize and render people of African descent second-class citizens.

This card shows a photograph of Mr. & Mrs. Slater who were successful at developing the E. A.M.E. church in Edmonton and Junkins.

Image courtesy of the City of Edmonton Archives, MS-386_F2.

While not discussed directly in the everyday comings and goings of the “Our Negro Citizens” columns, some background information on Rev. George W. Slater Jr. is available. He was an American who regarded his position in Edmonton as missionary work, which was regarded as necessary during the early 1920s due to a lack of social services and state responsibility for caring for those in need. His wife, Missouri, adopted the gendered role of helpmate for her husband’s various missionary duties and is often praised in ONC for her singing and administering to the sick. (Cui & Kelly, 2010)

The back sheet of the pamphlet shows the building of the new Grace A.M.E church in Junkins and also gives recognition to the work undertaken by Columbus Bowen in Pine Creek.

Image courtesy of the City of Edmonton Archives, MS-386_F2.

Rev. Slater was educated at the well-known AME Wilberforce University and he had at least two daughters, both of whom lived in Los Angeles with his parents and sister. When reading the column, it is evident that the United States is still an important aspect of the Reverend’s life as he and his wife travel back and forth to the US to visit family or attend various AME conferences.

“[Slater] expects to leave Sunday night for the conference at Minneapolis, Minn.”

Edmonton Bulletin, 8 October 1921.

The US-based African Methodist Episcopal parent church developed from a protest movement against racism, making Rev. Slater’s position within the community both religious and racialized.

Ruby Sneed (1917‒1976) – Classical Pianist/Music Educator

This section is courtesy of ©Theresa F. Lewis (née Sneed) 2010.

“If children hear fine music from the day of their birth and learn to play it, they develop sensitivity, discipline and endurance. They get a beautiful heart.”

Shinichi Suzuki

Canadian-born pianist and music educator Ruby Sneed completed her classical piano training with Jean Coulthard and Jan Cherniavsky in the early 1940s. To secure music teaching credentials, she obtained her ARCT (Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto), receiving the highest marks among all the ARCT students in Western Canada. Shortly thereafter, CBC Radio broadcast one of her recitals.

At the beginning of her musical career, Ruby had the singular honour to play for the notable American contralto Marian Anderson. Impressed with Ruby’s talent, Anderson would go on to mentor her. Very few Black women who pursued classical music careers in the early 1900s were taken seriously by the public.

Nonetheless, Ruby was highly motivated and determined to overcome any social barriers that would impede her goals. Studying the careers of successful female North American and international classical musicians helped her craft her own professional path. She was particularly inspired by the careers of Gina Bachauer, Rosina Lhévinne, Leontyne Price, and Lili Kraus.

Ruby’s self-educated parents who, as part of the first migration of Black pioneers from America, emigrated to Canada from Oklahoma in 1909, encouraged their three daughters to pursue formal education and excel at whatever they chose to do. Ruby, the eldest, was a high achiever both academically and musically in her hometown Edmonton, Alberta. Middle child Eleanor Collins excelled at jazz singing and would go on to become the first Black person in North America to have her own television series (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). Youngest sister Pearl Brown started her career in the business sector, but her love of theatre and music drew her back into the world of the performing arts as an avocation in her later years.

After moving to Vancouver in the late 1930s, Ruby met and married Stanley Sneed, and they had two daughters. Like her mother, Brenda (now deceased) was an accomplished musician. While attending the Juilliard School of Music she studied with Rosina Lhévinne. She pursued a career as a concert pianist under the sponsorship of Baldwin Pianos. In 1984, she moved to Calgary where she was appointed Director of the Early Childhood Music Program at Mount Royal College. Younger daughter Theresa Sneed Lewis studied both piano and violin during her formative years. Theresa currently resides in Calgary, Alberta, where she is the principal of a highly respected fine arts school. She is also a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Toronto.

Beginning in 1948, Ruby focused her career on early childhood music education. Astutely aware of young children’s capabilities, she began teaching piano to eager learners at the Chinese YMCA. Nine years later, she opened her own private studio working with children as young as 3 years old. Over the next 28 years, she would nurture the musical talents of some 75 students each year.

Many of those students would earn scholarships, medals, and first-class honours in local, provincial, and international competitions consistently. Many more would go on to graduate studies and teaching positions at such major music institutes as the Brussels Conservatory, Moscow Conservatory, Paris Conservatory, Juilliard, University of Indiana (Bloomington), UCLA, Aspen Music School, and Banff Arts Centre.

Always an innovator, during this period Ruby was also involved with several projects. In 1963, for example, she wrote the script, “The Promised Land,” for the CBC TV series Heritage.

In 1972, a grant from the Community Music School of Greater Vancouver (a.k.a. Vancouver Academy of Music) enabled Ruby to travel to Japan where she observed firsthand the internationally renowned Suzuki Talent Education Method for piano students. Impressed with the practicability and effectiveness of the Suzuki philosophy, she organized the first Canadian Suzuki piano program at the CMSGV. It commenced with an enthusiastic enrollment of some 50 children, ages 3 to 5. The program was so successful she returned to Tokyo in 1974 with two of her students who would perform in several Japanese recitals.

Word spread quickly in Western Canada about Ruby’s adaptation and development of the Suzuki philosophy of teaching. Before long she was a sought-after lecturer and teacher of master classes at institutions in cities throughout North America and abroad. Guest appearances on educational television in Canada and the United States followed, until her untimely death in 1976.

Ruby’s commitment to music education was not only for the promotion of excellence in piano performance it was also her way “to contribute to making this world a better place” (1965: Ruby Sneed Master Class).