Item T1308:0001 - Matilda Alexander interview

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1962-03-30 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Matilda Alexander recalls that her mother came from Puerto Rico, Spain, and her father was from Kingston, Jamaica; she talks about her early schooling; early Victoria in 1870s and 1880s; Jul;y 1 and May 24 parades; the coloured boys' band; the Gorge; the Japanese Gardens; black residents of Victoria; Mason's Lodge; Oddfellows; Genesis of Light; Saltspring islanders; family homes built by ;her carpenter father; her family; memories of Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie; Willis Bond; the Caledonian picnic ground; sailors; May 24 celebrations on the Gorge; Indians; the chain gang; the Young American Bus and the July 1 picnics with black families in Victoria at Hedley Park, possibly Hatley Park; the Alexander family. TRACK 2: Mrs. Alexander discusses Old Man Alexander, her father-in-law; Dun;can McTavish; the smallpox epidemic; her own children; the Alexander family; family occasions; the skating accident at Humber's Lake; the social hall on Quadra Street, possibly Patfoot Hall; entertainment; attitudes of whites towards blacks; Johnson Street residents; black residents originally from the U.S.; and her husband's jobs.