Upcoming Exhibit

March 7 to May 23, 2026

Hope Meets Action: Echoes Through the Black Continuum, a travelling exhibit created by the BC Black History Awareness Society in partnership with the Royal BC Museum, will be on display in our second-floor gallery starting March 7, 2026.

The exhibit reclaims and retells the complicated history of Black British Columbians, and traces an unbroken line of strength and resistance from the distant past to the present and into the future by highlighting the contributions of Black leaders whose actions echo across the centuries.

Hope Meets Action initially debuted in Clifford Carl Hall at the Royal BC Museum in 2021, and was met with an overwhelmingly positive public response. “We are pleased to continue to make this exhibit available publicly, said BCBHAS President, Silvia Mangue Alene. “This exhibit shares and promotes understanding of the history of Black settlers and their legacy, a legacy that contemporary Blacks in BC are very proud of.”

The exhibit follows the seldom-told stories of Black women such as Sylvia Stark, who was born an enslaved person in Missouri, taught herself to read by secretly listening to her master’s children’s lessons and eventually became a pillar of the Black pioneer community on Salt Spring Island. Her daughter Emma Stark would later become the first Black teacher on Vancouver Island.

It also features audio recordings of Black British Columbians calling in from around the province to lend their voices to this history, and artwork by young Black artists speaking to the history of the Hogan’s Alley community in Vancouver, BC.

The BC Black History Awareness Society has been working diligently for more than 25 years to keep BC’s Black history from being erased. This exhibit is an important step to recognize the role Black history has played in the province by highlighting the past and present contributions of BC’s Black communities.

School classes are welcome to visit this exhibit. Please arrange a time by contacting the museum at 250-334-0686 ext 2, or by emailing us. Provide the grade level and number of people in the group. The visit is included with your general admission fee.