Bromley Armstrong

Community organizer and activist

• Born: February 9, 1926
• Birthplace: Kingston, Jamaica
• Died: August 17, 2018
• Place of death: Toronto, Ontario

Significance: Bromley Armstrong was a Canadian community organizer and civil rights activist who participated in restaurant sit-ins to fight racial discrimination in Dresden, Ontario. Armstrong also participated in “rent-ins” that exposed discriminatory housing policies and was on a historic 1954 delegation that traveled to Ottawa to protest discriminatory immigration policies.

Background

Bromley Armstrong was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1926. He was the fourth of seven children born to Eric Vernon and Edith Miriam. His parents instilled in him a strong work ethic and love of athletics. Armstrong’s father was a welder.

Armstrong immigrated to Canada with his brother George in December 1947. The two sought education and employment in Canada, as the hardships of the Great Depression and war had left Jamaica in a state of economic duress with few employment opportunities.

Life’s Work

Armstrong struggled to find work in Canada but was eventually hired by Massey-Harris, an agricultural equipment manufacturer. Armstrong wanted to become a welder like his father, so he enrolled in the Chicago Vocational Training School, attending classes during the day and working at night. After graduating, he applied for welding jobs but encountered racism. He was told multiple times that his application had been lost. Armstrong was a member of the United Automobile Workers (UAW) Local 439 and asked the union for help. However, Armstrong had never been to a UAW meeting, so the union president refused to help. After this, Armstrong became active in the union. He soon became a leader in the Canadian trade union movement, working to improve conditions for industrial workers across the nation.

Armstrong also earned recognition as a social and human rights activist. In the early 1950s, he began co-organizing “sit-ins” in Dresden, Ontario, restaurants that refused to serve Black people. Though the 1944 Ontario Racial Discrimination Act and the 1954 Fair Accommodations Act made this illegal, racism persisted in Dresden. In October 1954, Armstrong traveled to Dresden and participated in a sit-in at Kay’s Cafe, where he and fellow activist Ruth Lor Malloy were refused service. Upset, the owner began wielding a large cleaver, and Armstrong worried that they might be attacked. Despite this, he and Malloy returned to the restaurant several times. Such sit-ins gained prominent media attention and became an important tool in the civil rights movement in Canada. In November 1954 the Star reported that Ontario’s labor minister was going to prosecute the owners of Kay’s Café for violating the Fair Accommodation Practices Act. However, the owners refused to comply because they believed they would lose White customers if they began serving Black people. The restaurant owners were eventually found guilty but appealed. The second judge ruled that there was no clear evidence of racial discrimination. After this, Black activists and a White undercover activist entered the restaurant separately. The White activist took note of how he was treated in comparison to the Black activists. The restaurant owners were eventually convicted based on this evidence. Also in 1954, Armstrong was part of a historic delegation of individuals who traveled to Ottawa to protest discriminatory immigration policies.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Armstrong also organized “rent-ins” with Malloy, responding as a couple to advertised housing vacancies. When they were told that the rooms were already taken, they sent in a White couple, who was offered the space. By the early 1960s, Armstrong had gained so much prominence as an activist that he was appointed as a commissioner of the newly created Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Armstrong also founded numerous organizations including the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, Black Business and Professional Association, Canadian Ethnocultural Council, Jamaican Canadian Association, and National Council of Jamaicans and Supportive Organizations in Canada. In addition to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, he served on other committees and boards including the Ontario Labour Relations Board, Toronto Mayor’s Committee on Community and Race Relations, Ontario Advisory Council on Multiculturalism, and Board of Governors of the Canadian Centre for Police-Race Relations. He also founded a newspaper called The Islander, which ran from 1973 to 1997. In 2000, he released an autobiography about his work as a union activist and human rights campaigner.

Impact

The sit-ins in Dresden received prominent coverage in Toronto newspapers, which ultimately led to the civil rights movement. It also convinced Ontario Premier Leslie Frost to publicly affirm the province’s commitment to anti-discrimination laws. Armstrong’s work on “rent-ins” also helped draw attention to housing discrimination. His participation as a delegate in the 1954 visit to Ottawa also helped kickstart immigration reform in Canada.

Armstrong received many honors and awards for his work. Among them are a Harmony Award in 1998 and a 2013 honorary Doctor of Law degree from York University. Labour Community Services Canada named an award named after Armstrong, which they present at an annual gala that is also in his name. The United Automobile Workers (UAW) also named an award after Armstrong.

Personal Life

Armstrong was married to a woman named Marlene, who was a photographer. He had seven children. Later in life, Armstrong and his wife moved to Pickering, Ontario.

Bibliography

“2022 Bromley Lloyd Armstrong Awards Gala.” TVO Today, 20 July 2021, www.labourcommunityservices.ca/2022bromleygala. Accessed 27 June 2023.

“Bromley Armstrong.” Labour 150, 18 Feb. 2022, labour150.ca/bromley-armstrong/. Accessed 27 June 2023.

“Commemorating the 65th Anniversary of the First Black-led Delegation to Ottawa.” ByBlacks.com, 31 Mar. 2019, byblacks.com/news/item/2270-commemorating-the-65th-anniversary-of-the-first-black-led-delegation-to-ottawa. Accessed 27 June 2023.

Csillag, Ron. “Civil-rights Champion Bromley Armstrong Was ‘a Gentleman and a Scrapper’.” The Globe and Mail, 4 Sept. 2018, www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-civil-rights-champion-bromley-armstrong-was-a-gentleman-and-a/. Accessed 27 June 2023.

Foster, Lorne. “Bromley Armstrong.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 8 Sept. 2018, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/bromley-armstrong. Accessed 27 June 2023.

Holmes, Jean-Marie. “Bromley Lloyd Armstrong (1926–2018).” BlackPast, 9 Dec. 2020, www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/bromley-lloyd-armstrong-1926-2018/. Accessed 27 June 2023.

Levy, Genelle. “How Activists Fought Racist Restaurateurs in Southwestern Ontario.” TVO Today, 16 Mar. 2022, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/bromley-armstrong. Accessed 27 June 2023.

Sattaur, Edward. “Black History: A Tale of Bromley Armstrong.” Go Logistics, 18 Feb. 2022, www.gologistics.net/blog/black-history-bromley. Accessed 27 June 2023.