“Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone” Book Launch

Salt Spring Books and Dancing Crow Press are pleased to announce the launch of
Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone: A Photo Narrative of Black Heritage on Salt Spring Island. Text by Evelyn C. White photos by Joanne Bealy

Come celebrate this landmark community event on Sunday 27 September 2-4pm at Lions Hall.

About the book…
Disaffected with increasingly repressive laws that aimed to curtail their hard-won freedom, a courageous group of blacks in California left the state in the 1850s and settled in western Canada, notably on Salt Spring Island. Today, direct descendants of the early black pioneers still reside in the pastoral landscape also hailed as one of the top artist colonies in North America. In recent years, people of African descent from the U.S., the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, the South Pacific Islands, and other regions of Canada have settled on Salt Spring inspiring a renaissance in the island’s black heritage. Resplendent with archival and contemporary photos, Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone documents the intriguing racial history of Salt Spring and, as such, serves as a celebration of the multicultural roots of Canada.

Early praise…
“It is fantastic. Thank you so much for making a contribution to Black British Columbian history. Not only is it uplifting to all of us but also to the people of Salt Spring. (I saw one of the featured gentlemen reading the book in the park. He had such a grin on his face. He was quite proud.)”

“I just wanted to send a quick message to say how much I have learned from, and been moved by, your new book “Every Goodbye Ain’t Gone”… Thank you for a great contribution to BC literature.  There are many things to praise in the book, but I particularly appreciated the way your thoughtful account of history was tied to and informed a fascinating and inclusive celebration of Salt Spring’s present (and recent) black residents.”

About the Authors…
Salt Spring Island resident Evelyn C. White is the author of Alice Walker: A Life (2004). She is at work on an illustrated book about Aretha Franklin.
Joanne Bealy is a photographer/writer who lives on Salt Spring Island.