New Vancouver library focused on Black history opens its doors

A new library opened its doors to the public in Vancouver on Friday.

It’s called the “Vancouver Black Library,” and the UBC student behind the project said it represents a lot more than just books.

She hopes the space will start a new chapter for Vancouver’s Black community.

“It definitely (has) happened sooner than I could have imagined,’ said Maya Preshyon, Vancouver Black Library’s founder.

Rewind to the middle of winter, Preshyon told Global News about her vision of a library that would tell the story of Vancouver’s Black community.

At the time, she had no location and no funding, but she did have the moxie of a university student who wanted to do something.

“In the ’70s, there was a neighbourhood that was a community for Black people in Vancouver that was called Hogan’s Alley. It was dismantled to make way for city infrastructure,” said Preshyon.

Overlooked and unknown to many, East Vancouver’s Hogan’s Alley had its roots in the Black men who worked as stewards on the trains that came to nearby Pacific Central station.

Jimi Hendrix’s grandmother lived there and musicians like Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong would eat at its restaurants when they came through town.

The city’s role in demolishing it for the Georgia Viaduct is now a lesson on what not to do, one city councillor believes.

“It was kind of the tenor of the time about how things were viewed in inner cities as blight. They viewed ethnic enclaves as something to get rid of, not to embrace,” said Pete Fry, a Vancouver city councillor.

Hogan’s Alley is just one of the stories you can learn about at the new Vancouver Black Library, which is operating in a building full of art spaces in Chinatown.

Everyone is welcome and readers can find books by Black authors, all available thanks to Preshyon and her volunteers.

“It’s (was) all just crowdfunding and crowd knowledge from the community and contributions,” Preshyon said.

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