CHAMPION BOXER & BLACK LOYALIST DESCENDANT

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Samuel 'Sam ' Edgar Langford has been called the best boxer of his time. He was born on 4 March 1886 in Weymouth Falls, Digby County,  Nova Scotia, and descended from a Black Loyalist. He went to the United States as a young person where he became a champion boxer in Boston, Massachusetts. Racial discrimination denied him a shot at many fights but he was crowned the World Colored Heavyweight Champion a record five times between 1910 and 1918.  Jack Dempsey, who was World Heavyweight Champion from 1919 to 1926, said Sam Langford was the best fighter we ever had.  In 1955, Langford was made a member of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame and his story is being told in his birthplace county of Digby.

Sam Langford Information Board

In 2025, at the Digby Big Stop Restaurant, on Highway 303 coming into Digby, off Highway 101, on the wall was installed an information board describing the life of Sam Langford.  It is one of many boards about people that are included in a history of Digby  and area timeline.

He is as well remembered at Sissiboo Landing in Weymouth, Nova Scotia by the display about him.  The cultural centre and information hub located on the waterfront is open from May to October. 

Sam Langford Display 


Langford was a descendant of James Langford, a Black Loyalist who acquired land in Nova Scotia after the American Revolution.  By a Deed dated 26 September 1802 from Thomas Cornwall, Esquire, of Town of Annapolis, land was conveyed to James Langford described as a Black Man and Ship Wright of the Township of Digby. Cornwall had served as a Captain in King's American Regiment in American Revolution. Langford appears in the Book of Negroes with a General Birch Certificate of Freedom and was originally from Maryland. The Deed conveyed 100 acres on the South side of the Sissiboo River for the consideration of 25 pounds. (Source: Nova Scotia Property Online, Digby County, Book 1A, Page 129, Document Number 502621511, Accessed 1 February 2026).

His place of death on 12 January 1956 was Cambridge, Massachusetts. On 13 August 2020, the World Boxing Council granted Langford an honorary world champion title. 


Further Reading:

Sam Langford's Black Loyalist Land Roots by Brian McConnell , UE, published by UELAC in 2025

 

Historian & Author; Member of United Empire Loyalists ' Association of Canada, Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia, Ulster Historical & Genealogical Guild (Life), Monarchist League of Canada (Life)

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