Robert Sutherland (c. 1830-1878) was the first student and graduate of colour at Queen's University and one of the university's most important early benefactors. He was born in Jamaica around 1830 to unknown parents, though there is some evidence his father was Scottish. He came to Queen's in 1849, just eight years after the university was founded. Sutherland led an extraordinarily successful academic career at Queen's, winning 14 academic prizes, including one for general merit in Latin that was awarded after a vote by fellow students. He graduated in 1852 with honours in classics and mathematics. After Queen’s, Mr. Sutherland proceeded to Osgoode Hall to study law. When he was called to the bar in 1855, he became British North America's first known black lawyer. At that time, the black community in the colony was small, mainly comprising black Loyalists and former American slaves. The 1871 Canadian census would report that there were only 21,500 black Canadians in all of the new Confederation. Mr. Sutherland went on to practise law in Berlin (now Kitchener) and Walkerton, where local almanacs recognized him as a leading citizen He started his legal career in Berlin, Ontario (now Kitchener) and then settled in Walkerton, south of Owen Sound, where he practised law for more than 20 years, served briefly as the town's reeve, and had connections to the Underground Railroad and the Black Dia...