Fashion & Women Entrepreneurs, Part 3: The Forgotten Black Dressmaker

For the last in her series of illustrated talks about corsets, fashion and dressmaking in 19th century Toronto, historian and fashion expert Dr. Alanna McKnight introduces us to Mary Augusta and the pre-industrial needle trade in Toronto.

Had it not been for an 1854 ad in The Provincial Freeman, a newspaper serving the Black population in Upper Canada, Mary’s career as a Black dressmaker and shop owner would have remained forgotten.

In contrast, much is written about her husband Alexander Augusta, who trained in. in medicine at Trinity College, became Toronto’s second Black doctor, had a surgical practice and owned a drugstore. He returned to the U.S. during the Civil War, where he became the highest-ranking Black officer in the Union army, the first Black hospital administrator and the first Black medical professor.

In her ad, Mary Augusta advertises her "New Fancy Dry Goods and Dress Making Establishment" on York St. between Richmond and Adelaide. Her dress-making deparment offers the "Latest Paris and London Patterns" for dresses, mantillas, cloaks, sacks and children's clothing.

Who were the people making these clothes in the mid-18th century in Toronto? Where did the patterns come from? How large and prosperous was the Black community, which Mary Augusta would have been serving?

Alanna well delve into these topics as well, thus setting the context for Mrs. Augusta's business.

The talks take place at Back Lane Studios, 9 Neepawa Ave. in Roncesvalles Village (a block south of Howard Park Ave. and just east of Roncesvalles Ave. Tickets: $15 for each lecture (refreshments included). Only 30 tickets available for each session.

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