Charles Daniels

Canadian civil rights activist

• Born: Unknown
• Birthplace: Unknown
• Died: Unknown

Significance: Charles Daniels was a Black Canadian who worked as a railroad porter in the early twentieth century. Little is known about his life except for an incident when he challenged the racist policy of a theater when management refused to seat him among White patrons on the main floor. He took the theater to court in one of Canada’s first civil rights actions.

Background

Almost nothing is known of Charles Daniels’ life, including when and where he was born or died or information about his family. Researchers investigating his story have uncovered news clippings and transcripts of his legal battle, but not a single photo of Daniels. One of the few known facts is that in 1914, he was working for the Canadian Pacific Railway on the line operating out of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. At the time, working as a porter caring for passengers during overnight train trips was one of the only jobs available to Black men in North America. Daniels may have been working for the railroad for a while because he was a porter supervisor.

Even though he worked with other Black men, Daniels likely experienced discrimination on the job. White passengers often referred to the porters using derogatory terms like “boy,” and the White porters would not let their Black colleagues into their union. Instead, most, including Daniels, belonged to the Brotherhood of the Sleeping Car Porters.

The racial climate in the era was particularly unfavorable for Black people in the early twentieth century after a large Black migration upset many White residents of Alberta. Some Canadian officials, including Interior Minister Clifford Sifton, began actively recruiting new residents from parts of Europe and America in the late 1890s. In 1907, when Oklahoma became an American state, the new state legislature passed discriminatory laws, including strict segregation laws that created separate schools, streetcars, and rail cars and that separated Blacks from Whites in other public accommodations. Blacks protested these laws, and some of the protests turned violent, but the laws, which went into effect in 1908, remained unchanged. As a result, many Black people considered moving to Canada as an alternative.

The Canadian government actively promoted this by placing advertisements in American newspapers promoting Alberta’s fertile farmland. However, many White residents in Alberta were alarmed to see a sudden large influx of Black immigrants. Under pressure from White residents, Canadian officials eventually began to try to hinder Black people from immigrating by sending discouraging pictures of bad weather and making it difficult to pass medical exams needed for entry. By the time these efforts began to make a difference, however, there was already a substantial number of Black individuals in the area, and prejudice against them was widespread.

Life’s Work

It is not known if Daniels was part of the northward migration of African American, but he was living in the Calgary, Alberta, area on February 3, 1914. On that day, he contacted the Sherman Grand Theatre, built in 1912 and owned by Canadian Senator James Lougheed, grandfather of future Canadian Premier Peter Lougheed . Daniels inquired about tickets to see a Shakespearean play that evening. He was informed that King Lear was playing and asked for two tickets at orchestra level, center of the theater, about a half-dozen rows back from the stage. Later that day, Daniels sent a young White boy with money to pay for and pick up the tickets, which he did.

When Daniels and his friend, Andrew Hill, attempted to use their tickets, however, they were denied access. Instead, Daniels was offered tickets on the balcony in the “colored” section of the theater. He argued with the attendant, who sought guidance from management but still would not allow Daniels to use the tickets he purchased. They offered a refund, which Daniels refused. He left the theater without seeing the play.

Instead, he hired Attorney J.J. McDonald from the Barney Collision law firm to represent him in suing the theater. The lawyer argued that because Daniels was sober and responsible, he should be allowed to sit in the main portion of the theater regardless of his skin color. The theater manager argued that they were not refusing him admission, just requiring him to sit in the section designated for Black customers.

Transcripts from the pre-trial discovery provided many revealing details about the situation. This included the admission of a theater employee that if they allowed Black people to sit in the orchestra section, many White customers would be offended and complain. Many would ask for refunds or to be moved, the employee said. For his part, Daniel explained how he wanted to sit in the seats that he had purchased, not alternative seats chosen by the theater. He asked for $1,000 in damages—the equivalent of about $20,000 in the twenty-first century—because of the humiliation he suffered in being refused. He said some fellow railroad employees witnessed him attempting to use the tickets he had purchased and being refused, causing embarrassment.

When the case came to trial, no one for the defense showed up. As a result, Daniels won by default and was awarded the $1,000 for which he sued. A judge set the decision aside and gave the theater manager another chance to defend himself. However, there is no record of the case ever going to trial a second time and no guarantee that Daniels would have won if it had. Some historians believe that the theater management may have settled with Daniels out of court. Regardless, the case was major news in Canada, and the theater manager was replaced a few months later, possibly because of the embarrassment suffered by the theater and the senator who owned it.

Impact

Daniels’ willingness to legally stand up for his rights and the attention drawn to his case let theaters and other businesses know that discriminatory practices had consequences. Others would follow his example with varying amounts of success before the discrimination that kept him from seeing a Shakespearean play that night ended. However, Daniels is remembered as one of the pioneers of the Canadian civil rights movement. His story is immortalized in the sixteen-minute documentary Kicking Up a Fuss by Telus Storyhive.

Bibliography

“African American Exodus to Canada.” Oklahoma Historical Society, www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=AF001. Accessed 30 June 2023.

Cecco, Leyland. “'Not just in the US': Amateur Historian Highlights Canada's Forgotten Racism.” The Guardian, 20 Sept. 2018, www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/20/canada-racism-past-civil-rights-charles-daniels-bashir-mohamed. Accessed 30 June 2023.

“Charles Daniels.” Peel Art Gallery and Museum Archives, www.pama.peelregion.ca/programs-events/community-artists/unearth-uncover/charles-daniels. Accessed 30 June 2023.

Loewen, Caroline. “The Story of Charles Daniels.” Lougheed House, 20 Oct. 2020, lougheedhouse.com/lh‗blog/the-story-of-charles-daniels/. Accessed 30 June 2023.

Mohamed, Bashir. “Calgary’s Unknown Civil Rights Champion.” Sprawl, 7 Sept. 2018, www.sprawlcalgary.com/calgarys-unknown-civil-rights-hero. Accessed 30 June 2023.

“Secret Calgary: Kicking Up a Fuss.” YouTube, 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLSxERRq8p0. Accessed 30 June 2023.

“The Story of Charles Daniels.” Grand, www.thegrandyyc.ca/charles-daniels. Accessed 30 June 2023.

Ward, Rachel. “Albertan Rediscovers Theatregoer’s Fight Against Segregation 104 Years Ago.” CBC News, 17 Sept. 2018, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/charles-daniels-train-porter-racism-lawsuit-1.4826763. Accessed 30 June 2023.