Following the American civil war in 1865, thousands of former enslaved peoples migrated to the then territory, Oklahoma, where they could vote, study, and live in freedom.

 

However, in 1907 when Oklahoma became a state, segregation became widespread and in 1910 dozens of African-American families made the journey to the prairie provinces in Canada (Saskatchewan and Alberta).

 

The Canadian federal government at the time was offering free homestead land for settlers in the West. Some families settled in Eldon, Saskatchewan, while other families continued further West to establish the Northern Alberta community of Amber Valley, which is approximately 100 km North of Edmonton.