“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal and then leap in the dark to our success.”
-Henry David Thoreau

“Where the heart is willing, it will find a thousand ways. Where it is unwilling, it will find a thousand excuses.” ~ Arlen Price

Mathieu de Costa

Mathieu de Costa (sometimes d’Acosta or da Costa, died 1623) is the first recorded black person in Canada. He was a member of the exploring party of Pierre Dugua, the Sieur de Monts and Samuel de Champlain in the early 1600s.

Not much is documented on de Costa, but he is known to have been a freeman favoured by explorers for his multilingual talents. His portfolio of languages – thought to include Dutch, English, French, Portuguese and pidgin Basque, the dialect many Aboriginals used for trading purposes – led him into the employ of Champlain in the role of interpreter.
This job came to be known as un grumete. He not only worked with Pierre Du Gua de Monts, but other nations, like France and Holland. There were even disputes over which country would benefit from his services. His talents helped him bridge the gap between the Europeans and the Mi’kmaq people.
It is thought that he came to Canada at some time before 1603, using his visit to learn the Mi’kmaq dialect. One source has him coming to Acadie in a Portuguese ship were he learned the Micmac language. A Rouen merchant then kidnapped him in Portugal or in the East Indies and sold or lent him to De Monts as an interpreter. French papers record him working for government of Port Royal in 1608. He likely travelled the St. Lawrence River and worked at various locations along the Canadian Atlantic Coast. The tradition of Europeans depending on Black translators was more than a century old by Da Costa’s time. It began by exploring off the African coast and continued as Europeans and Africans came across to the Americas. Mathieu Da Costa sailed on many voyages, traveling up the St. Lawrence River and all along the coast of what is now Atlantic Canada. He worked with Pierre Dugua de Monts, a leader in the group of French settlements in Eastern Canada, and with Samuel de Champlain in the 1600s. It is said that he obviously spoke Mi’ kmaq. That shows that he was here before Champlain. His translating skills helped link the cultural gap between early French explorers and the Mi’kmaq people.

His work in Canada is honored at the Port Royal Habitation National Historic Site of Canada in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.

“However many words you read. However many words you speak. What good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?” - Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta

Phillis Wheatley (1753 – December 5, 1784) was the first African American poet and the first African-American woman whose writings were published. Born inGambia, Senegal, she was enslaved at age seven. She was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her to read and write, and helped encourage her poetry.

The 1773 publication of Wheatley’s Poems on , Religious and Moral brought her fame, with figures such as George Washington praising her work. Wheatley also visited England for five weeks accompanying her ‘Brother’ Nathaniel and was praised in a poem by fellow African American poet Jupiter Hammon. Wheatley wasemancipated by her owners after her poetic success.