SPCHA Honors Black History Month: The Colored Hockey League

The Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes (CHL) was an all-Black Canadian men’s hockey league. It was organized by Black Baptists and Black intellectuals and was founded in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1895, 29 years before the first NHL game was played in the United States. It disbanded in 1911 and reformed in 1925 but fell apart by the 1930s. Later, with the influence of the Black Nationalism Movement — and with rising interest in the sport of hockey — the league came to be seen as a potential driving force for the equality of Black Canadians. Canada Post issued a commemorative stamp in honor of the league in January 2020.

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