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February 10th

Robert Sutherland was born in Jamaica around 1830. It is probable that his father was a Scotsman, but who that man was, or what his status was, has so far not been established. It is assumed that his mother was a Black or Coloured Jamaican.
He entered Queen’s University (or more correctly ‘Queen’s College’ at that date) in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, in 1849 after spending some time at Queen’s College School, a small high school in Kingston then affiliated with the college. There is no information on how or why he went to Canada, and to Queen’s, which had opened in 1842, having been granted a charter in 1841. At the time of Sutherland’s admission the College, founded to educate men for the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, was housed in somewhat cramped quarters in four houses on William Street. If his father was in fact a Scot, the college’s Presbyterian affiliation may have been the attraction. Sutherland was the first undergraduate of African ancestry to attend the institution.
Sutherland was a popular student, and had an excellent academic record. He won 14 academic prizes during his three year course, one being a prize for Latin awarded by his fellow students. He graduated in 1852 with honours in classics and mathematics, one of only two students to win double honours that year. He was an active member of Queen’s first student society, a debating club called the Dialectic Society. He took part in ten debates, his side winning in seven of them. He chaired one debate, and supplied the topic for another – ‘Whether Philosophy or Poetry has done more towards civilization of the human race’.
After graduation he studied law at Osgoode Hall in Toronto. He was called to the bar in 1855, the first man of African ancestry to become a barrister in Canada. He practised first in Berlin (now Kitchener) and then, for the rest of his life in Walkerton, which had several Black settlements nearby. He lived in a modest brick house, and worked chiefly on conveyancing, dealing with land title registrations, preparations of indentures, and wills. In 1869 the Ontario Gazeteer and Directory listed him among the 78 names of Walkerton’s “leading citizens”; he was a respected member of the community and served briefly as reeve of the town.