HISTORY MATTERS!
Honouring Toronto's First Black Councillor And Deputy Mayor William Peyton Hubbard, the son of American slaves who in 1837 fled Virginia via the Underground Railroad to take up farming in Canada, was Toronto's first black elected city councillor, representing one of the city's wealthiest and whitest wards and often presiding over council as acting mayor. by Elizabeth Abbott. Published on Huffington Post, Oct. 25, 2016. William Peyton Hubbard, the son of American slaves who in 1837 fled Virginia via the Underground Railroad to take up farming in Canada, was Toronto's first black elected city councillor, representing one of the city's wealthiest and whitest wards and often presiding over council as acting mayor. Recently, as dignitaries including Mayor John Tory, Dub Poet Lillian Allen and Hubbard's descendants gathered to name an elegant park in his honour, the strongest message was that Hubbard's most enduring legacy was not that he broke the colou...