The Colored Womens Club of Montreal By Sarah

The Colored Women’s Club of Montreal By: Sarah Vinkle

• The Colored Women’s Club of Montreal is a social group that turned into a self-help organization. It was founded by a group of American women whose husband’s worked as porters for the railroad. The club was founded in 1902, making it the oldest Black Women’s organization in Canada. Blacks were excluded from charitable organizations in Canada that helped the poor, so the women created this club to fight poverty and social exclusion in their towns/communities. They helped many people during tough times by doing things such as operating soup kitchens during the Great Depression and the world wars to the unemployed, providing winter clothing to newly arrived families from the Caribbean, buying plots of land at cemeteries for families who couldn’t afford proper burials and giving scholarships to black youth who deserved higher education but couldn’t afford it. .

• This group had a huge impact on the people they helped in this era. Without the club, the people affected might not have survived or accomplished the things they did because they wouldn’t have had anyone to give them a chance or help them in their times of need. The club still exists today with 21 active members from all over the world including places like the Caribbean, the US and Canada

Citations • Sadlier, Rosemary. "Toward Freedom: Community Organizations. " Black History: Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas. Toronto, ON: Emond Montgomery Pub. , 2009. 180. Print. • "The Coloured Women's Club. " The Coloured Women's Club. N. p. , n. d. Web. 03 May 2013. • "Unit 6: Life Between the Wars: New Sources of Strength and Awareness. " Unit 6: Life Between the Wars: New Sources of Strength and Awareness. N. p. , n. d. Web. 03 May 2013. • "Shirley Gyles. " Whos Who in Black Canada RSS. N. p. , n. d. Web. 03 May 2013.