Uncrowned Community Builders

Wilma Morrison was born in London , Ontario , Canada on February 1929. She later lived in Hamilton and moved to Niagara Falls following marriage to Lorne Morrison in 1955.

She is a local community volunteer, historian of black history in Niagara and is involved in various heritage societies in the Niagara area.

Wilma is a member of the Nathaniel Dett Chapel British Methodist Episcopal Church. There she began a project of preserving the Chapel when it was threatened at being sold and destroyed. It is the only tangible structure verifying that blacks have been in the Niagara region for almost 200 years and contributed to the building of this community. Thanks to the untiring efforts of Wilma and others, the Chapel , now 170 years old, was declared a National Historic Site in July 2000. Since then it has undergone major refurbishing in keeping with the local heritage code.

Wilma is dedicated to the preservation of history, heritage, and genealogy. On request, she speaks to classes in schools as well as other interested groups in the community. She has a large volunteer schedule and has volunteered as a Site Manager at the Norval Johnson Heritage Library since 1991. The library was opened with the goal of assisting students and educators in their search for information on Canadian black history. The library now houses more than 1200 books, which are now available via the internet. Wilma is currently working on a genealogy resource section to make the data available to anyone in search of family information.

The Niagara Freedom Trail Tour is a very important part of the history of this area. It was instituted in 1994 to make the many visitors to the Niagara region aware of the long, proud history in the community. Wilma played a key role in the development and maintenance of the tour.

Wilma is also the recipient of many community honors including the: Paul Harris Rotary Club Award, 1997; the Ontario Human Rights Award, O.F.L., 1997; the John Christie Holland Award of Merit, 2000;George Seibel Award for Preservation of Black History in Niagara, 2001;Outstanding Achievement Award for Volunteerism in Ontario, Ministry of Culture and Citizenship, 2001;Outstanding Achievement Award, Ontario Heritage Foundation, 2002; The Queens Golden Jubilee Medal, 2002 and the Uncrowned Queens Culture Keeper Award for Preservation of Canadian Black History, Uncrowned Queens Institute of Buffalo NY., 2005. Wilma is the first Canadian woman to receive the Uncrowned Queens Culture Keeper Award.