Register 23 Seats Remaining
Join education program coordinator Christina Sydorko from the Oil Museum of Canada to learn about the Oil Springs Riot 1863.
On March 17, 1863, the Detroit Free Press ran a short story on page three that discussed “a serious riot” occurring between the Black community and the white community in Oil Springs, Canada West. The article explains that rioters ordered Black people away, then “destroyed their property and burned their houses.” This program looks at the primary source evidence related to this incident, sheds new light on the experiences of Black laborers in the oil fields of Oil Springs, and highlights that ways in which Black people were contributors to the local Oil Springs economy and the development of the early oil industry in Canada.
