Book Launch: City in Colour

Tuesday, November 7, 2018 – 7 to 9 pm at 1644 Hillside Avenue — Join Bolen Books in celebrating the release of May Q. Wong’s new book, City in Colour, a collection of rediscovered stories of Victoria’s pioneers, trailblazers, and community builders who were a people of diverse colour. It includes a story about Congregation Emanu-El, Judge Samuel D. Schultz, and Amelia Copperman. Meet the author, join in on a discussion about the unsung individuals of the city’s history, and pick up a signed copy of the book.

Often described as “more English than the English,” the city of Victoria has a much more ethnically diverse background than historical record and current literature reveal. Significant contributions were made by many people of colour with fascinating stories, including:

• the Kanaka, or Hawaiian Islanders, who constructed Fort Victoria, and members of the Kanaka community such as Maria Mahoi and William Naukana
• three Metis matriarchs—Amelia Connolly Douglas, Josette Legacé Work, and Isabelle M. Mainville Ross
• the Victoria Voltigeurs, the earliest police presence in the Colony of Vancouver Island, and who were primarily men of colour
• Grafton Tyler Brown, now known in the United States as one of the first and best African American artists of the American West
• Manzo Nagano, Canada’s first recorded immigrant from Japan
• and many more

With information about various cultural communities in early Victoria and significant dates, May Wong’s City in Colour is a collection of fascinating stories of unsung characters whose stories are at the heart of Victoria’s history.