The Historically Entrenched Poverty of Africville

Africville

“These intrusions, the lack of services, declining social conditions, and the historically entrenched poverty of Africville residents all contributed to the community’s constitution as a slum.”

This quote was drawn from the book of Forbes when he explained about the social problems encountered by the residents of Africville.

Africfille is a slum in Maritime region of Canada. It is a slum with extremely poor conditions and the people living there live with little water and poor sanitations. Health of its people is highly affected and there is less that people can do to the situation because it seems the central government has apparently left them out.

Forbes was explaining the historical causes of the problems faced by people living in Africville slum. The historical period to which this quotation refers is around 1870s-1900s. In this period, there were intrusions from outsiders, lack of services from the central government and declining social and standards in the society. This made lives of the residents difficult to bear and seemingly difficult to endure.

This quote has an impact of providing history learners with the knowledge of deducing and handling the problems of slum settings. It enables learners to know the causes of social problems in slums so that they may shape the lives of ghetto dwellers in the future in order to avoid the problems that were faced by the historical Maritimers of 1960s-1900s.  Learners learn from history to change the future. It is from the historical past that we can make the world of tomorrow a better place for the next generation.

Leave a Reply