‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being Black’: Race, Class, and Victorian Vancouver First Lifeguard

Abstract

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a black man, Joe Fortes, received much admiration from the city of Vancouver's white population. Fortes’s life and career presents an interesting study of race and class not only in Vancouver but also in the larger North American society during this period. Around the turn of the twentieth century, a social hierarchy based on Social Darwinism developed and affirmed the superiority of the white, heterosexual, male of means. Through his role as a lifeguard, however, Fortes challenged the stereotypical assumptions of non-whites and achieved a degree of acceptance in a predominantly white society through the sport of swimming. This paper discusses Fortes’ journey to respectability by adopting the values and beliefs learned from organised sport and physical recreation.

Keywords:

• swimming
• race
• class
• lifeguard
• whiteness
• Vancouver

Notes

 1. 504-C-3, file 122, Major Matthews Collection, City of Vancouver Archives, Vancouver, British Columbia (hereafter CVA).

 2. ‘Flower-filled Boat Will Follow Lifeguard to Grave’, Vancouver Province, 6 Feb. 1922. See also ‘Vancouver Will Pay its Last Respects to “Old Joe” Today’, Vancouver Sun, 7 Feb. 1922 and ‘“I Hear Those Gentle Voices Calling Old Black Joe!” Rolls from Organ at Holy Rosary as Vancouver Pays Honor to Faithful Servant’, Vancouver Sun, 8 Feb. 1922, for news of Fortes’ funeral and its preparation. For Fortes's death notice, see ‘“Old Joe” Has Passed Away’, Vancouver Province, 4 Feb. 1922.

 3. ‘Joe Fortes’, Vancouver Province, 6 Feb. 1922.

 4. Roy, A White Man's Province, 231.

 5. Fosty and Fosty, Black Ice. Racial attitudes apparently did not differentiate country of origin. African Americans received similarly treatment in Canada. See Beaton, ‘An African-American Community in Cape Breton’, 65–97. Beaton's discussion, however, was focused on a group of skilled workers whose usefulness somewhat mediated their acceptance. Racist stereotyping of blacks extended well beyond the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. See Howell, Northern Sandlots, 171–95.

 6. For histories of black athletes prior to the First World War, see, for example, Ritchie, Major Taylor; Hotaling, The Great Black Jockeys; Ashe, A Hard Road to Glory; Aycock and Scott, Joe Gans; Wiggins and Miller, The Unlevel Playing Field, 7–84; Hamburger, ‘Jimmy Winkfield’; Bond, ‘The Strange Career of William Henry Lewis’; Wiggins, Glory Bound; and Wiggins, ‘Peter Jackson and the Elusive Heavyweight Championship’. There are considerably fewer studies on the experiences of black athletes in Canada. See, for example, Fosty and Fosty, Black Ice; and Howell, Northern Sandlots, 171–95.

 7. For an excellent history of Jack Johnson and race in America, see Roberts, Papa Jack. See also Gilmore, ‘Jack Johnson and White Women’; Burns, Unforgivable Blackness. For a discussion of the (pseudo) science behind race and sport, see Wiggins, ‘“Great Speed But Little Stamina:”’; Dyreson, ‘American Ideas about Race’; and Miller, ‘The Anatomy of Scientific Racism.’

 8. Thompson, ‘History From Below’, in The Essential E.P. Thompson, 489.

 9. For studies on the lives of ordinary people, see, for example, Ulrich, A Midwife's Tale; Stansell, City of Women; Cott, Root of Bitterness. Specific to the study of sport and leisure, see Peiss, Cheap Amusements; and Gorn, The Manly Art.

10. McDonald, ‘Mapping Whiteness and Sport’, 248. The issue of Sociology of Sport Journal in which McDonald's article appears is devoted in the examination of whiteness and sport. On sport and whiteness, see also Walton and Butryn, ‘Policing the Race’.

11. Brodkin, ‘How Jews Became White Folks’, in White Privilege, 24. See also Dyer, ‘The Matter of Whiteness’, in Rothenberg, White Privilege, 2nd ed., 9–14.

12. For the changing acceptance of who could be white, see, for example, Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White; Brodkin, ‘Jews Became White Folks’; Barrett and Roediger, ‘How White People Became White’, in Rothenberg, White Privilege, 2nd ed., 35–40.

13. Roediger, Towards the Abolition of Whiteness and The Wages of Whiteness.

14. Dubois, Black Reconstruction in the United States as cited in Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness, 13.

15. Morley, Vancouver, 93–4.

16. The most prominent spokesman for and practitioner of racial uplift was Booker T. Washington, the famous black educator. See Washington, ‘Up from Slavery’ in Three Negro Classics.

17. For information on Fortes's parents, see ‘Newspaper clippings re: Joe Fortes’, 547-C-6 file 33, Vancouver Museum and Planetarium Association fonds, CVA. See also Aileen Campbell, ‘A Legacy from Joe’, Vancouver Province, 28 May 1976.

18. Anthony, Historical Dictionary of Trinidad and Tobago; Singh, Race and Class Struggles in a Colonial State Trinidad, 1–13; Brereton, A History of Modern Trinidad; Burton, Afro-Creole, 90–155; Beckles, A History of Barbados; Reddock, ‘Freedom Denied’; Dorsey, ‘Identity, Rebellion, and Social Justice’. For the impact of large plantation on slavery, consult Williams' classic work, Capitalism and Slavery.

19. James, Beyond a Boundary, especially 55–71. See also Sandiford and Stoddart, ‘The Elite Schools and Cricket in Barbados’; Guttmann, Games and Empires, 15–40; Beckles, A History of Barbados, 143–6 and 214–6; Brereton, A History of Modern Trinidad, 116–35.

20. I am borrowing the characteristics of modern sports here and not modernisation theory that explained the emergence of this particular style of sports. Modern sports refer to physical competitive activities that are highly rationalised, bureaucratised, formalised and marketed. Moreover, they tend to be heavily covered by the media and have a penchant for record-keeping. See Guttman, From Ritual to Record, 15–55; also Adelman, A Sporting Time, 6.

21. In Beyond A Boundary, James declared that ‘class and racial rivalries … could be fought out without violence or much lost except pride and honour. Thus the cricket field was a stage on which selected individuals played representative roles which were charged with social significance’ (Beyond A Boundary, 72).

22. For a discussion of Victorian notion of rational recreation and amateurism, see Mangan, Athleticism in the Victorian and Edwardian Public School; and Bailey, Leisure and Class in Victorian England. On sport in the Caribbean, see Stoddart, ‘Caribbean Cricket’; Cummings, ‘The Ideology of West Indian Cricket’; St Pierre, ‘West Indian Cricket’; Guttmann, Games and Empires, 178–9. For the gendered aspects of rational recreation, see, for example, Parratt, ‘Making Leisure Work’.

23. See note 17.

24. Originally, the Act did not include indoor facilities for swimming. Its intent was to ensure a certain level of sanitation in these facilities. An 1878 amendment to the Act provided for the construction of such facilities. Love, ‘An Overview of the Development of Swimming in England’; see also Parker, ‘The Rise of Competitive Swimming, 1840–1878’.

25. Allegedly, Fortes liked to correct American tourists to the city about his nationality by telling them that he was from the British West Indies and not the United States: ‘“Old Joe” Has Passed Away’, Vancouver Province, 4 Feb. 1922.

26. Love, ‘An Overview of the Development of Swimming in England’, 577–8.

27. Various accounts had Fortes arrival dates some time anywhere between 1883 and 1885. See, for example, ‘Joe Fortes, Veteran Life Guard, Is Kiddies Friend’, Vancouver Sun, 9 Nov. 1919; ‘Joe Fortes Fund Near Half-Way Mark’, Vancouver Province, 8 May 1926. Records of the Vancouver port show that the Robert Kerr docked in Vancouver in 1885. See 504-C-3 file 122, Major Matthews Collection, CVA. For a brief mention of Fortes in Britain, see Bruce Ramsey, ‘Remembering the Days of “Old Black Joe”’, Vancouver Province, 16 March 1964. For more details on Fortes's early year, see Goldvine Howard, ‘In Memory of Joe Fortes, I Wear a Bracelet’, 25 April 1986, Joe Fortes file, Joe Fortes Branch, Vancouver Public Library (JFVPL), Vancouver, British Columbia. Fortes later became estranged from his family, most likely because of his career choice.

28. Gorn, The Manly Art. On Canadian working-class sport and leisure culture, see DeLottinville, ‘Joe Beef of Montreal’; Joyce, ‘Sport and the Cash Nexus in Nineteenth Century Toronto’, 142–5; and Wamsley and Kossuth, ‘Fighting It Out in Nineteenth-Century Canada/Canada West’. For Britain, see D.A. Reid, ‘Beasts and Brutes’; A. Metcalfe, ‘“Potshare Bowling” in the Mining Communities of East Northumberland’; and N.L. Tranter, ‘Organized Sport and the Working Class of Central Scotland, 1820–1900’, all in Holt, Sport and the Working Class in Modern Britain; Dixon and Garnham, ‘Drink and the Professional Footballer in 1890s England and Ireland’.

29. ‘Gamblers Arraigned’, The Vancouver News, 26 July 1886.

30. Morley, Vancouver, 91. The police were on the take at the time and were exposed.

31. Although the description of early Vancouver's social strata is generally valid, the construction of social class was a complicated process involving ethnic origin, education, religion and profession. There is evidence that exchanges occurred between the elite and vernacular groups as well as between whites and the indigenous peoples. See, for example, ‘Potlatch Palaver’, Daily News-Advertiser, 22 May 1886; and Matthews, Early Vancouver, vol. III, 83. See also O’Kiely, Gastown Revisited, 31. For a discussion of social class, see McDonald, Making Vancouver, 13, 23–31; Nicol, Vancouver, 35–8.

32. ‘Long and Honorable Career Appreciated’, Vancouver Daily News-Advertiser, 23 Dec. 1910.

33. See Hull and Ruskin, Gastown's Gassy Jack, 23; Jack Deighton to brother, letter, 28 June 1879, Add. MSS 648, 576-A-3 file 4, CVA; Morley, Vancouver, 57. As late as 1891, the ratio of females to males in Vancouver was 1.87 to 1. This figure is taken from Table V in Roy, Vancouver, 169.

34. MacDonald, ‘Population Growth and Change in Seattle and Vancouver, 1880–1960’, 301.

35. Population figures are taken from ibid., 301 and MacDonald, ‘A Critical Growth Cycle for Vancouver’, 28.

36. McDonald, Making Vancouver, 53–4, 58.

37. ‘Never a Life Was Lost at Bay While Joe Fortes Was on Deck’, Vancouver Sun, 11 May 1914.

38. Matthews, Early Vancouver, vol. III, 263. See also Nicol, Vancouver, 83.

39. Excerpt from the Vancouver Province, 31 Oct. 1936 in 504-C-3 file 122, Major Matthews Collection, CVA. See also ‘Never a Life Was Lost at Bay While Joe Fortes Was on Deck’, Vancouver Sun, 11 May 1914.

40. Fortes's information is culled from the Vancouver City Directories for the various years. It is quite possible that until Fortes resided at Beach Avenue permanently, he would move into town during the winter but stay at his place in English Bay during summer. Goldvine Howard, ‘In Memory of Joe Fortes, I Wear a Bracelet’.

41. At the City of Vancouver Archives, there is a picture of Fortes standing in front of a tent at English Bay. The date of the photograph is listed as 1900. A36098, Major Matthews’ Collection, CVA.

42. For information on Fortes's residence on these years, see the respective issues from 1902 to 1922 in Mallandaine, British Columbia Directory.

43. Matthews, Early Vancouver, vol. II, 276.

44. ‘The City’, Vancouver Daily News-Advertiser, 1 Sept. 1888

45. ‘Vancouver's Budget’, Victoria Daily Colonist, 1 Dec. 1898. After the incident, Consul Colonel McCook wrote the Vancouver Consul Dudley recommending that Fortes be given the Royal Humane Society's medal. By this time, Fortes was credited with saving six lives.

46. Original petitions can be found in ‘Petitions re Joe Fortes’, 594-B-5 file 34, Office of the City Clerk, City Council and Office of the City Clerk fonds, CVA.

47. Feb 27/99–Jan. 14, 1901, microfilm 1-9, vol. 9, City Council Minutes, CVA. According to a source, Fortes became lifeguard in 1891. See ‘Joe Fortes, Veteran Life Guard, Is Kiddies Friend’, Vancouver Sun, 9 Nov. 1919. In 1915, a representative from the Street Railwaymen's Union testified that an annual salary of $1,233 was needed by a working-class family but the then annual pay was only $766. Using a wage index to extrapolate the two 1915 salaries into 1901 figures yield $1,171.77 and $727.96 or $97.65 and $60.66 on a monthly basis respectively. Note that the salaries under discussion are for families. For wage index used and its explanation, see Bartlett, ‘Real Wages and the Standard of Living in Vancouver, 1901–1929’. The testimony from the union man can be found on page 59. Since Fortes remained unmarried until his death, his $80 monthly salary was a decent wage except that this salary only applied during the swimming season. After 1902, no other profession except swimming instructor was listed for Fortes. It is unclear if he had other work to supplement this income. See notes 38 and 40.

48. ‘Council And the Board’, Vancouver Province, 16 April 1901

49. ‘Long and Honorable Career Appreciated’, Vancouver Daily News-Advertiser, 23 Dec. 1910.

50. 504-C-3 file 122, Major Matthews Collection, CVA. Fortes came down with pneumonia, followed by mumps three weeks before he passed away. It was thought at the time that he was going to recover. ‘“Old Joe” Has Passed Away’, Vancouver Province, 4 Feb. 1922.

51. Omi and Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 60–1.

52. James, Beyond A Boundary, 33–5.

53. For the impact of English sport and Victorian manhood on the Caribbean, see Downes, ‘From Boys to Men’; and James, Beyond A Boundary, 34–5. On Victorian manhood and sport see, for example, Mangan, ‘Muscular, Militaristic and Manly’, and Mangan, The Games Ethic and Imperialism, especially chs 1 and 2; McDevitt, ‘May the Best Man Win’.

54. ‘Joe Fortes, Veteran Life Guard, Is Kiddies Friend’, Vancouver Sun, 9 Nov. 1919.

55. ‘Never a Life Was Lost at Bay While Joe Fortes Was on Deck’, Vancouver Sun, 11 May 1914.

56. Adelman, A Sporting Time; Wong, ‘From Rat Portage to Kenora’.

57. Perhaps the most (in)famous example of black stereotype and his exclusion from sport during Fortes’ life time was the boxer Jack Johnson. See Roberts, Papa Jack; Wiggins, ‘Boxing's Sambo Twins’; Dorinson, ‘Black Heroes in Sport’. For Canada, see Fosty and Fosty, Black Ice.

58. ‘“Old Joe” Has Passed Away’, Vancouver Province, 4 Feb. 1922.

59. Chuck Bayley, ‘A Legend Lives On’, n.d. Article in JFVPL

60. ‘Joe Fortes’, Vancouver Province, 6 Feb. 1922.

61. ‘Heroes and Hero Worship’, Vancouver Sun, 15 Jan. 1925.

62. In the context of gender and aquatics of the period, swimming denotes organised or competitive swimming, which generally excluded women competing in public meets in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Bathing is a more appropriate term for the aquatic activities engaged by women on the beach. To be consistent with the discussion on Fortes and his connection to the water sport, I took the liberty of applying the term swimming to both organised, competitive swimming and leisure/recreational bathing. For discussions on the gendered dimension in swimming, the practice of swimming in the nude and morality, see Love, ‘Swimming and Gender in the Victorian World’; Winterton and Parker, ‘“A Utilitarian Pursuit”’, 2108; Booth, Australian Beach Culture, 22–35 and 41–64; McDermott, ‘Leisure, Tourism, Swimming, Sustainability and the Ocean Baths of New South Wales’, 2074–7; Kossuth, ‘Dangerous Waters’, 802–5; Cruikshank and Bouchier, ‘Dirty Spaces’; Travis, ‘Continuity and Change in English Sea-Bath’, 16; Lencek and Bosker, The Beach, 83–4, 133–8, and189–95.

63. Chuck Davis, ‘Joe Kept the Men from the Women’, Vancouver Province, 30 May 1982. 504-C-3 file 122, Major Matthews Collection, CVA. Interestingly, Mayor R.A. Anderson appointed Fortes as lifeguard in the same year. Although several sources, including Fortes's own recollection, pointed to 1894 as the year Fortes was appointed lifeguard, he was not on city payroll until 1900.

64. Kossuth, ‘Dangerous Waters’, 802–3. For a more nuanced analysis of prescriptions and proscription of swimming, see Love, ‘Swimming and Gender in the Victorian World’, 587–98. The quote is on 588.

65. Bruce Ramsey, ‘Remembering the Days of “Old Black Joe”’, Vancouver Province, 16 March 1964; and Chuck Davis, ‘Joe Kept the Men from the Women’, Vancouver Province, 30 May 1982.

66. Probate file, P-08117, microfilm, B08705, GR-1415, British Columbia Supreme Court (Vancouver), BC Archives, Victoria, British Columbia. According to the administrator of Fortes's estate, he had $141.91 in cash, $51.97 in a bank account and personal effects to the sum of $63.50.

67. Voting eligibility required a man to own a certain amount of property as well as six months of residency. Vancouver did give the franchise to women but only to single women and widows who owned property. See Francis, L.D.

68. See, for example, ‘Joe Fortes, Veteran Life Guard, Is Kiddies Friend’, Vancouver Sun, 9 Nov. 1919.

69. Goldvine Howard, “In Memory of Joe Fortes, I Wear a Bracelet”. Because of Fortes's stay with the Howard family in his early years in Vancouver, Howard's mother, who was much younger than Fortes, appeared to be very close to Fortes and she was at Fortes's side when he died.

70. VLP 148, Major Matthews’ Collection, CVA.

71. Joe Bellinger, ‘The Memorial to Joe Fortes’, The Negro History Bulletin, n.d., in 504-C-3 file 122, Major Matthews Collection, CVA. See also Aileen Campbell, ‘A Legacy from Joe’, Vancouver Province, 28 May 1976.

72. I am merely borrowing the title from the novel by Milan Kundera, The Unbearable of Lightness of Being (New York: Harper Perennial, 1999) and interpreting it for this article. Kundera's novel deals in much deeper depth in existentialism which is beyond the subject of this essay.

73. ‘Entire City Will Pay Its Respects to Warm-Hearted “Joe” Fortes’, Vancouver Sun, 6 Feb. 1922. Jackson was white.

74. Aileen Campbell, ‘A Legacy from Joe’, Vancouver Province, 28 May 1976. See also ‘Joe Fortes Fund Near Half-Way Mark,’ Vancouver Province, 8 May 1926.

75. Bruce Ramsey, ‘Remembering the Days of “Old Black Joe”’, Vancouver Province, 16 March 1964. The quotes came from a news report when the ceremony took place in 1927.