Year: 2025
Location: Edmonton
Profile: Irma Belton, née Lipscombe, is a descendant of Alberta’s early Black communities. Born in Athabasca, she moved with her parents and siblings to Edmonton in 1958, shortly thereafter moving to Jasper Place. The great granddaughter of a slave, Belton was a member of one of many Black families that fled racism in Oklahoma to settle in Amber Valley in the early 1900s. Several of those families later moved to Jasper Place.
Her parents, the Lipscombes, worked for many business enterprises in Jasper Place. Her mother also worked at GWG and the University of Alberta Hospital. While attending public school, Belton and her siblings frequently had to defend themselves from racist comments and tauntings. She was strapped daily by a racist teacher until her mother threatened to report the teacher to the superintendent. After graduating from school, the Lipscombe children’s options were at first limited because many employers refused to hire Blacks. No legislated human rights protections existed at the time.
She worked as a retail clerk at London Drugs in St. Albert for almost 30 years, challenging racism forcefully from customers on the infrequent occasions where she faced it.
Keywords: Amber Valley; Amber Valley Baseball Team; London Drugs; Jasper Place; Racism in hiring; Racism in schools; Retail clerk.
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See also: Black Communities in Alberta; Systemic Racism in Alberta; Women and Work in Alberta