Lincoln MacCauley Alexander
For as long as humans walk the Earth, leaving indelible marks would be inevitable, setting the pace for generations would remain, and a bulk of this would be dependent on not just one act, but the heart, and the consistency with which these acts are taken, and the effects they have on people, and situations.
Blacks generally have a typified resolve to not just survive, but thrive and make a difference in anything and everything they do, and Honorable Lincoln M. Alexander with his influence in Canada was no different.
Lincoln was born in 1922 in Toronto, he went on to attend Earl grey Public School, and like a lot of black kids in Europe and America, Lincoln was the only black child in his kindergarten class; a slight difficulty, but rather than developing a low self-esteem, Alexander toughened up and in his 2006 memoir, ‘Go to School, You’re a Little Black Boy’, he mentioned that he never raced home from school crying, but rather, he earned the respect of his classmates, sometimes by fighting.
The lesson here for him was to always walk tall, and with a certain type of demeanor, so people knew he meant business.
This especially served him well, as racism was a prominent phenomenon. To put in perspective, during the time he attended Riverdale Collegiate, he knew only three black families. This however gave him a strong mental fortitude, and a resolve to stand out and make a difference.
Lincoln returned back to Canada in 1939 from the United States of America, to serve with the Royal Canadian Air Force when Canada declared war on Germany. As a corporal and wireless operator in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the war, his remarkable service made him stand out, in turn earning him service around various parts of the country. He did not however serve as a combat officer, due to his bad eyesight.
His sturdiness, mental fortitude and years of standing up for himself came to play when he was refused service at a bar because of his race, while he was stationed in Vancouver. It is alleged that after a superior officer who he reported to refused to take action, he quit the Air Force and was granted an honorable discharge. Talk about a first-class mentality! Later he said, ‘At that time they did not know how to deal with race relations of this sort of thing; they just turned a blind eye to it.’
Lincoln afterwards got an education from Harnilton’s McMaster University where he graduated in Arts, and subsequently, Toronto’s Osgoode Hall School of Law, where he passed the bar examination in 1965.
LINCOLN’S MAJOR FEATS
- Lincoln in his lifetime was no stranger to plaudits and achievements, you only need to keep reading to see this.
- Lincoln was appointed a Queen’s Counsel and shortly after became a partner in a Hamilton law firm from 1963 to 1979.
- It is noteworthy, that he was the first black person to become a Member of Parliament in 1968 and he successfully served in the House of Commons until 1980.
- He was also federal Minister of Labour from 1979–1980.
- In 1985, Lincoln was appointed Ontario’s 24th Lieutenant Governor, this without a doubt, made him the first member of the black race to serve as the Queen’s representative in Canada.
- During his term in office which ended in 1991, Lincoln placed a lot of emphasis on youth and education. Subsequently, he occupied the position as Chancellor of the University of Guelph.
- In 1996, Lincoln became the chair of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, and was also made Honorary Commissioner for the International Year of Older Persons Ontario celebrations.
- In 1992, Lincoln was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada, and also to the Order of Ontario in 1992.
- In June 2006, Lincoln was named the “Greatest Hamiltonian of All Time.”
Talk about living a life full of impact and legacies!
On October 19, 2012, Lincoln passed away at the full age of 90. His legacy and impact in Canada, eternal however, as a year and two months later, in December 2013, the Province of Ontario declared Lincoln’s birthday (January 21) a nationally recognized day, naming it the ‘Lincoln Alexander Day’, taking effect from the following year.
HURDLES AND CHALLENGES
It is easy to get stuck in on how amazing his life was, his determination, diligence, hard work, and consistency to stand out in everything he laid his hands on, as he rightly showed. However, it wasn’t always rosy and easy for Alexander, particularly because he was born into an abusive home where love did not rule. To put in perspective, his father never accepted his mums first son who was born prior to their marriage, and so he never welcomed him in the family house. His father at some point beat up his mother terribly, so much so that she was forced to leave the house with her three kids.
She moved to Harlem with Riley, his step brother, whom she hardly had anytime with, and had to leave Alexander and Hughie with the Downes, largely because she could not afford to cater for all of them. When she was eventually able to, she sent for Alexander, inadvertently creating a situation where the brothers grew apart.
Irrespective of the Dys-functionalism, the lack of love, and growing up in a proper familial setting, Alexander came up with no excuses or alibis, and decided he would make the most of his life, which he rightly did, and the rest they say is history. Ultimately, with Alexander’s example, we see that limitations and challenges can be pathways to helping us achieve our set goals and objectives, and not an opportunity to wallow in self-pity, and turn out like every other person.
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