R.I.P. Lincoln MacCauley Alexander (1922 - 2012)

 

 

Lincoln MacCauley Alexander was born January 21, 1922 in Toronto to West Indian parents and grew up in Toronto and New York City. He served in World War II with the Royal Canadian Air Force as a corporal, graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto 1953; that path was set after he had applied for a sales job with Stelco in 1949 after graduating from McMaster University with a BA. They said customers would not want to deal with a black man, and this gave him the impetus to attend law school. 

He first ran for political office in 1965 and was a seatmate of John Diefenbaker in Parliament. Later on he was elected to the House of Commons in 1968 making him the first black member of Parliament. Alexander moved to Hamilton in the early 1940s and he represented Hamilton West for the PC party, a position he would hold for the next four elections. The Honourable Lincoln Alexander served as Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1985 to 1991 and was the first black person to do so. Read more and watch the trailer for his film documentary...