If you’ve ever been to the shores of the Bedford Basin, where the Black community of Africville once stood, chances are you’ve seen Eddie Carvery’s camp down by the water.
But on Monday, there was something different about Carvery’s trailer — flowers were outside the front door.
The 79-year-old activist who protested on the land of the former Africville site for decades died on Saturday after years of health issues.
“He was a father, he was a son, he was a grandfather, an uncle,” said his grandson, Eddie Carvery III.
“He was surrounded by loved ones, we held his hands…Even through it all, he wanted to be nowhere but here in Africville, for his people, to continue his fight.”
Days after his death, Carvery’s family is still trying to come to terms with his passing.
Meanwhile, those who knew him are reminiscing on shared memories and the incredible legacy this former Africville resident leaves behind.
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In 1970, Carvery began to protest for a public inquiry and reparations for the people of Africville, a Black settlement bulldozed by the City of Halifax in the 1960s. He relentlessly carried on that fight for the next 55 years.
“If you look at the black and white footage of the bulldozers, it’s shocking enough, but Eddie saw that in full colour, with his own eyes,” said author Jon Tattrie, who wrote a book on Carvery called The Hermit of Africville.
“And I think what disgusted him the most was the indifference. They wanted it to be forgotten and Eddie would not let that happen. That was why he stayed out here — like that flame you see in a church — the eternal flame, he was that eternal flame here in Africville.”
For more than five decades, Carvery resisted the attempts by the municipality to uproot him from the site.
While his camp took on many forms, his mission never changed.
“It breaks my heart because, my entire life, where we’re standing right now, this was my childhood,” his grandson said feet away from Carvery’s trailer. “This is where I grew up, this was where I learned to be a man, where he showed me so many important things that have shaped me into the person I am today… None of this would be here if it wasn’t for him.”
But Carvery’s fight isn’t over — his grandson having taken up the torch.
“My grandfather entrusted me with this fight and I believe everything that has happened has led me to this point,” he said.
For more on this story, watch the video above.
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