Borden, Pearleen (Oliver)

  • From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: See full biography at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearleen_Oliver
  • Wiki Biography:
    • Pearleen Oliver (1917 – 2008), sometimes Pearleen Borden Oliver, was a Black Canadian church leader, an anti Black-racism activist, writer, historian and educator.
    • She founded the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People and co-led the Cornwallis Street African Baptist Church. She advocated against the exclusion of Black students from learning nursing, and against racial segregation in education. She received an honorary doctorate degree from Saint Mary’s University (Halifax) in 1990.
    • Her great-grandfather was an Afro-indigenous slave, her great-grandmother was Dutch and her family was the only Black family in her community. Their daughter, Oliver’s grandmother, was Catherine Jewell, who married a man from Newfoundland.
    • Oliver was a historian, writer, and an educator who founded the Nova Scotia Association for the Advancement of Coloured People. Oliver co-led Halifax’s Cornwallis Street African Baptist Church, Nova Scotia’s premier late 19th and mid 20th century Black church and hub for many lower socioeconomic status neighborhoods. The church was a cultural hub and social hub for the Black community. As a leader in the Black community Oliver campaigned against racial segregation in schools.
    • Oliver expanded the African United Baptist Association in 1953 to include a Women’s Institute for Black women to gather annually and discuss racialized socioeconomic problems and their solutions.
  • Third Great Granddaughter of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=13810
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/191034850/althea_pearleen-oliver