Person

States, Roy Wellington, 1919-1980

1919-1980

Roy Wellington States, CD, (1919-1980) was a Black activist, amateur historian and McGill staff member who as a teenager began a lifelong pursuit of collecting books and other information about Black people in history and contemporary society. These materials would ultimately be donated by his estate to McGill University's Rare Books and Special Collections in 1981, at which time they constituted the largest Black history collection in private hands in Canada.

States was born on February 15, 1919, in New Glasgow, Pictou County, Nova Scotia, to a family descended from Loyalists who had fled the American Revolution. He attended New Glasgow High School, taking a five-year break between 8th and 9th grade to help support his family after his father was blinded in a workplace accident.

He volunteered for the Canadian Army in 1939, at the outbreak of the Second World War. In an example of the overt racism he experienced all his life, he was turned away on the grounds that the service "was a white man's army, and this was a white man's war." He nonetheless succeeded in enlisting on August 1, 1940 in the Pictou Highlanders, a local Canadian Army infantry regiment. He served in several locations during the war, including northwestern Europe and Germany, and was awarded five decorations. Demobilized in 1947, he returned to Nova Scotia and studied at Horton Academy, where he received a Licentiate in Theology in 1949.

States worked for a year as student pastor, then became disenchanted with Black churches because what they taught did not match what Black history had showed him. He moved in 1953 to Montreal, where he would reside for the rest of his life. In 1954 he re-enlisted with the regular Armed Forces, in which he served until 1969. States was able to visit 33 countries in the performance of his military duties, as well as during leaves and furloughs, and everywhere he traveled he visited libraries and sought out books about Blacks. He also had the opportunity to meet and talk with prominent Black leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King and, on a separate occasion in Boston, Malcolm X.

States retired from the Army in 1969, at age 50. Involved since the late 1940s in advocating for civil rights and promoting greater knowledge of Black history, he now devoted even more of his time to these pursuits. These activities included writing newspaper columns and giving conference presentations, as well as working in various capacities for the National Black Coalition of Canada.

In 1973, States took a position as Supervisor of Special Events and Activities at McGill University's Department of Physical Plant. His role was to make the physical arrangements for events such as public lectures, concerts and ceremonial occasions, including the University's twice-yearly Convocations and the Installation ceremonies for new Principals. One of his enduring contributions in this role was the creation of a gold-fringed blue velvet antependium, embroidered with the University's coat of arms, to decorate the speaker's lectern at these ceremonies; its basic design is still in use today.

Roy States received several honours during his lifetime for his achievements, notably a special plaque from the National Black Coalition of Canada "in recognition of many years of devoted services to Canada, particularly the Black community and the NBCC." It was presented to him in Halifax on November 3, 1979, almost exactly one year before his death at age 61, in Montreal, on November 13, 1980.

Full biography of Roy Wellington States by Marc Richard is available at: https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/papers/dj52w9981?locale=en