Jim Crow Also Lived Here: Author Leonard Paris Shares a Powerful Message
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FriesenPress is honoured to have assisted many writers of colour with sharing their stories over the years. In celebration of Black History Month, we’re amplifying the voices of some incredible Black FriesenPress authors.
During Black History Month, we celebrate the many achievements and contributions of Black people and their communities who, throughout history, have done so much to inspire change towards a more culturally diverse, compassionate, and prosperous world.
Affecting such change takes resilience and determination, which are two descriptors that directly apply to Leonard Albert Paris, the author of one of FriesenPress’s best-selling memoirs of 2020. Jim Crow Also Lived Here recounts Leonard’s “first eighteen years...growing up as a Black youth in rural Nova Scotia, Canada.” Nova Scotia was, at the time, home to about 36% of Canada’s Black population — and severe segregation. In Jim Crow Also Lived Here, Leonard recounts first-hand what it was like to come of age in such a harsh and isolating environment.
Now retired after a nearly 50-year career in law enforcement and safety, we spoke with Leonard about the mission he’s on with his book, his writing process as a first-time author, and how processing the past can help us work together to build a more inclusive future.
Thanks so much for joining us, Leonard. Let’s start at the beginning: why did you write this book?
I'm presently 72 years of age. I left Nova Scotia when I was 18 to join the Royal Canadian Air Force and, all the time I was away, I was haunted by the memories of racism I experienced as a child and as a teenager.
I had some good memories of growing up, but I also always had some very harsh and painful ones as well. Those memories always centered around racism, isolation, and poverty. I started jotting down notes as I was thinking about it, sometimes in the wee hours of the morning. I think we've all experienced lying awake at 3 or 4 in the morning, thinking about our past life.
After a few weeks, I had about two notebooks full of these notes. I realized as I was writing that [a book] would resonate with a lot of Black people from Nova Scotia, both people of my generation and of a present-day generation. I also knew it would be a bit of an eye-opener for some of the White community because, in my travels and interacting with people, I was amazed how many people really, truly believed that slavery, racism, and discrimination did not exist in Canada. I would encounter people and they’d be shocked. To them, we never had slavery, we never had racism, and Black people were always treated well in Canada. Totally, totally false.
The book had two missions. The first being to resonate with not just the Black community but with other racialized communities — such as Indigenous and Asian communities — who also had similar hardships and struggles that Black folks had growing up and continue to have in Canada.
The second mission is to raise awareness around the enslavement, segregation, and discrimination experienced by Black people throughout Canada’s history. This isn’t something that only occurred in the USA. There were thousands of enslaved Black people in Canada at one time. The book was written to bring an awareness of what really went on in Canadian society in the past — and which, in part, continues today.
For those of us who weren’t there: what was it like growing up as a young Black man in Nova Scotia during the 1950s and ’60s?
Growing up, there was very much overt racism. It was not hidden at all. It was right there in your face and out in the open. There were places that the Black community could not live in, and that continues today in Nova Scotia. There were neighbourhoods you definitely could not go into. One common thing was that White children would say, “I can't play with you because you're coloured.” It was also common to be in a class (our school was not segregated) and the rest of the class would be invited to a birthday party, but you're told “you can't come because my parents do not allow coloured children in our house.” It's very painful for that to happen.
We grew up with no White friends at all; we were a very isolated community. The only people we really travelled with or made friends with were other Black children or family members. There were many barbershops and restaurants where we would not be served — they would brazenly tell you that they would not cut Black peoples’ hair or serve Black people in their restaurant.
In the book I also talk about my dad having difficulty getting a decent job. He fought in World War II and helped liberate Holland. After the war, he came back to New Glasgow with six medals for his service and he couldn't walk into a restaurant and have a coffee or a sandwich.
As a first-time writer, how did the process of writing this memoir unfold?
I had never attempted to write a book before — and it’s not an easy process as a first-timer! Like anything in life, I'm sure a second, third, or fourth book would become easier. The first time you do it, you’re struggling. If I were to do it over again I would probably do a lot of things differently, but I didn't really focus so much on the format. During the writing process, I was more focussed on content — and [FriesenPress’s] editing staff helped as far as the formatting and grammar and things of that nature were concerned. You have to be determined and you have to really want to finish it.
I started the book by saying that it’s a memoir, not a historical perspective. A lot has been written about Black people in Canada and Black people in Nova Scotia in particular. I wasn't looking at repeating that. I wanted this to be my memories, my story, and my journey. I thought it was important to get my message out there.
What are you most proud of with regards to being a published author? Has publishing this book changed you in any way?
It has changed me. It’s allowed me to do more research on my history and the history of Black people in Canada. I've also had a lot of people — especially from the Black and White communities on the East Coast — reach out to me with some of their own stories and appreciation that I published the book. Even people who are much, much younger than me have commented that some of the stories still resonate with them. The stories definitely resonate with people of my generation, but I was surprised how many young people feel the same way.
I’ve also had great feedback from my family. A lot of the things I talk about in the book, [family members] had either forgotten about, or dismissed, or denied. Reading my memoir brought back those memories — good and bad. One of my relatives said that it was heartwarming but bittersweet.
If folks reading Jim Crow Also Lived Here could take anything away from the book, what do you hope that is?
The one thing I would say, and it's quite simplistic, is that racism hurts.
Racism was there in the past, racism is still here with us in the present, and racism hurts not just now but will in the future. I don't think people realize the pain that it causes people. Lately, I've been reading about how racial discrimination affects the health and psychological well-being of people of colour. A lot of people do not realize the toll it takes on racialized communities. Racism really affects them in all aspects of their life.
The other thing I want people to take away is that Canada was not and is not the pure land of freedom that a lot of people think it is. We have — presently and in the past — some of the same conditions that they had in the southern United States. When I was growing up, it wasn't a lot unlike growing up in Mississippi or Alabama. We definitely shared the isolation and discrimination — hence the name of the book.
What advice would you give other aspiring authors?
If you have a story that you’re passionate about and you think that it's going to help you cope with the pain of a struggle that you went through, or if it's good information that's going to help somebody else with their pain and their struggle — tell your story.
You need to be regimented and disciplined about it, in terms of setting time aside to write and research, but by all means: tell your story.
Jim Crow Also Lived Here is available now.
Visit jimcrowalsolivedhere.com to learn more about Leonard Paris and the book.
