Emily Arabella “Emma” Stark (1856-1899)
Emma Stark was the first Black teacher on Vancouver Island. Emma’s full given name was
Emily Arabella Stark.
Born in California, Stark’s parents Sylvia and Louis brought her and her brother to Salt Spring
Island in 1860, in search of freedom and land. Formerly enslaved, Sylvia and Louis had escaped,
and met and married in California.
After the family settled on the Salt Spring Island, four other children were born – two boys and
two girls. In 1875, the family moved to Cedar, on Vancouver Island, near Nanaimo. There,
another girl was born in 1878. Soon after that child’s birht, Sylvia and her children returned to
Salt Spring Island while Louis remained on Vancouver Island. The break-up of the family
presented challenges to Stark, particularly after her father died mysteriously in a fall from a cliff
in 1895.
Stark attended Salt Spring Island Central School, and she completed her education at Nanaimo
High School. At that time, only a high-school certificate was required to qualify as a teacher.
On August 1, 1874, at the age of 18, Emma officially became the first Black teacher on
Vancouver Island. Her salary was $40 per month. The Nanaimo Free Press newspaper published
a notice about her appointment. She was hired to teach in a one-room schoolhouse in the Cedar
area, where she taught until 1879.
During the school year, Stark stayed in the teacher’s cabin, boarding with children who lived too
far away to return home at the end of each school day. Stark’s younger sister Marie was among
those children. On weekends and in good weather, Emma would ride home on her horse, with
Marie behind her. In the winter, they rode in a homemade sleigh pulled by oxen.
In December 1878, Emma married a man called James Clarke. Little is known of her life after
marriage. In 1890, at the age of 33, she died from an unknown illness.
In 1999, a plaque was unveiled, in recognition of Emma Stark’s teaching career. It is located
at 331 Wesley Street, Nanaimo, where she lived. It was installed during the City of Nanaimo’s
125th anniversary, and its inscription honours her as “the first Black teacher on Vancouver
Island.”
(Sources: B.C. Black History Awareness Society, Government of Canada – Noteworthy Figures,
Times-Colonist newspaper.)
Photo credit: Myrtle Holloman, Salt Spring Island, B.C., and Peggy Cartwight
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