Anna Minerva Henderson (August 8, 1887 – 1987) was a teacher, civil servant, and poet from Saint John,

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

. According to the New Brunswick Black History Society, during Canada's centennial in 1967 she published a "chaplet" containing 22 poems which is believed to be the first book to be published by a Black woman who was born in Canada. In 2004, Henderson and New Brunswick publisher Abraham Beverley Walker were the subject of the 2004 W. Stewart MacNutt Memorial Lecture at the

University of New Brunswick The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English language, English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universiti ...

George Elliot Clarke George Elliott Clarke (born February 12, 1960) is a Canadian poet, playwright and literary critic who served as the Poet Laureate of Toronto from 2012 to 2015 and as the Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate in 2016-2017. Clarke's work addresse ...

who at the time was serving as the Poet Laureate of Toronto. In 2006, Clarke published "Anna Minerva Henderson: An Afro-New Brunswick Response to Canadian (Modernist) Poetry" in the journal ''

Canadian Literature Canadian literature is written in several languages including Canadian English, English, Canadian French, French, and various Indigenous Canadian languages. It is often divided into French- and English-language literatures, which are rooted in th ...

'', based upon this lecture.

Early life and career

Anna Minerva Henderson was born on August 8, 1887, in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John () is a port#seaport, seaport city located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It is Canada's oldest Municipal corporation, incorporated city, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign ...

to Henrietta Leek, a schoolteacher, and William Robert Henderson, an African American soldier and barber who died in a

horsecar A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is a tram or streetcar pulled by a horse. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public transport, public rail transport, ...

accident in 1893. Anna graduated from

Saint John High School Saint John High School (SJHS) is a high school located in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. It was founded in 1805 and is the oldest publicly funded school in Canada. History Saint John High School was a filming location for the 2001 crime dra ...

in 1905. She earned her teacher's certificate, but was barred from teaching in Halifax or Saint John on account of her race. She taught in Black communities in Nova Scotia for two years. She was hired by the

Civil Service of Canada The Public Service of Canada (known as the Civil Service of Canada prior to 1967) is the civilian workforce of the Government of Canada's departments, agencies, and other public bodies. While the Government of Canada has employed civil servants ...

in 1912 after receiving the third highest grade in the Dominion of Canada on the entrance test. She worked for the Department of the Interior's

Dominion Lands Branch The Canadian Forest Service (CFS; ) is a sector of the Canadian government department of Natural Resources Canada. Part of the federal government since 1899, the CFS is a science-based policy organization responsible for promoting the sustainable d ...

as a stenographer. In 1938 she worked for the

Department of Mines and Resources Natural Resources Canada (NRCan; ; )Natural Resources Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Natural Resources (). is the department of the Government of Canada responsible for natural r ...

' immigration branch, employed as principal clerk. Henderson worked as a stenographer for the Saint John law firm Fairweather & Stevenson in 1945. Henderson wrote "The Colymn" an ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

'' column and was published in magazines by the 1930s. ''Canadian Poetry Magazine'' published her sonnet "Parliament Hill, Ottawa" in 1937. She self-published her 31-page chapbook ''Citadel'' in 1967. She took a creative writing course from the

in 1974.

Death and legacy

Henderson died in 1987 and was interred at Fernhill Cemetery on July 21, 1987. In 2021, as part of their Being Black in Canada feature the

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

produced an article focused on Hendersen titled "Restoring the legacy of a 'trailblazing' Black Saint John writer" that focused on Hendersen's life as an educator, civil servant and author, and on the research currently underway to further explore and promote her legacy as an African-Canadian author.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Anna Minerva 1887 births 1987 deaths Canadian women poets Canadian columnists Canadian women columnists Canadian women civil servants Writers from Saint John, New Brunswick 20th-century Canadian civil servants 20th-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian women writers Black Canadian women poets Black Canadian poets Poets from New Brunswick