After the Pisces Bathhouse Raid: John Kerr – Dance for Gramma
In the years before John Reid launched his career as owner of Flashback, Edmonton’s first gay disco, he worked cleaning…
Stories categorized: People
After the Pisces Bathhouse Raid: Michael Phair – LGBTQ2S+ Activist and Community Leader
As of this writing, Michael is one of the few men charged as a “found-in” to speak publicly on the…
After the Pisces Bathhouse Raid: Dr. Henri Toupin – Dignity in the Eye of the Storm
Henri Toupin was born in Legal, Alberta, on March 15, 1923. He acquired his B.Sc. in 1947 from the University…
After the Pisces Bathhouse Raid: Millie – I’m Number One
Paul Chisholm’s first contact with another gay man occurred as he hitchhiked out of Saskatchewan in the late 1960s. Legend…
Committed to Community: Hilwie Hamdon and The Muslim Ladies’ Association of Edmonton
Edmontonian Hilwie Hamdon (née Taha Johma, 1905-1988) was a community leader and founding member of the historic Al Rashid Mosque, the…
Alfred Carrothers: Early Edmonton’s Crooked Confidence Man
The owner of any historic home will wonder about the generations that have lived within its walls. When I recently…
Architect Doris Tanner: What did she do? Work and life in fine balance
It’s 2003, early in the new millennium but regrettably late in the story I’m aiming to tell. Doris Tanner died…
Margaret Crang: the AOC of #yegcc circa 1933
When Margaret Crang won a seat as an alderman in the 1933 municipal election, she set the record as the…
Judi Singh: A Black & South Asian musician from 1950s-70s Edmonton
Last year, while exploring South Asian music history in Edmonton, I randomly searched “Singh + artist + 70s Edmonton” and…
The Porter: Building a Better Canada for All
The Canadian National Railway Pullman train bustled through the Rocky Mountains on the way from Vancouver headed for a stop…
The Last Black West: Oklahoma Freedmen Seek Refuge in Alberta, Part 1
Advertisements promoting the “Last Best West”—a frontier open to all pioneers—have become an ingrained part of the Canadian national mythology. Like…
The Last Black West: Oklahoma Freedmen Seek Refuge in Alberta, Part 2
Read The Last Black West: Oklahoma Freedmen Seek Refuge in Alberta, Part 1. As we noted in Part 1, early…