Green Walters is an oddity. At least that is how he is described by his contemporaries.

He came to Alberta in 1881 and, like most uneducated Black men of the era, found himself taking a stab at whatever opportunity he could find. Walters was what we might today think of as a serial entrepreneur.

He tried his hand as a hay contractor, a ranch hand, a cook, a servant and a cleaner. In some of these roles, his skills were considered less than desired. A. E. Cross, who would become a senator, said that as a cook Walters was neither “methodical” nor “clean.”

‘Black people have been put into a box’

Why is it so hard to see Black braininess? Or the Black designing mind?