The Last Best West

At the turn of the century, many Black families in Oklahoma wanted to escape the state’s racial violence and discrimination for a new start in Canada’s “Last Best West.” The Canadian government, however, didn’t want them to settle in those vast, fertile western provinces. To stem the tide of Black immigration, the government began a secret campaign of disinformation.

Uncovering this deception from 1911 can help us think more critically about the media we consume today.