Black History Month

Hello Lakeland Family,

Please join me in recognizing Black History Month. 

February is a time to reflect on the importance of equity, diversity and inclusiveness, qualities that I support and encourage each and every day at Lakeland College. This is a time to celebrate our African-Canadian heritage and to learn about the many achievements and contributions that Black Canadians have made to this country.

Lakeland College strives to cultivate an environment of belongingness, challenging discrimination and making students feel welcome. I want to assure you that all students are provided a safe and inclusive learning environment, that includes student supports and encourages student success.  These practices are strongly aligned to the Mission, Vision and Values of Lakeland College.

On behalf of Lakeland College staff and faculty, I would like to invite all of you to join me in celebrating Black History Month, and to take time to participate in some of the exciting activities planned for February.

Respectfully,
Dr. Alice Wainwright-Stewart

We are inspired by our colleagues at Lakeland College who are raising awareness with regards to equity, diversity, and inclusivity.

February is a month to listen and learn about the importance of Black history within Canada. It is an opportunity to give the floor to those voices who strive to educate and celebrate Black contributions within our society.

The Indigenous Student Services team stands beside our colleagues and students and honors their voices through mutual respect and solidarity.

Take this important opportunity to listen to the stories of Black people and from that do what you can to support anti-racism and be an advocate for equity and diversity. Again, we are inspired, and we hope you will be too.

With respect,
Rikki Ducharme
Manager of Indigenous Student Support Services.

Recognizing Black History Month - Honouring and reflecting on the history, achievements and contributions of Black Canadians and Albertans

Alberta recognizes Black History Month every February but we experience the contributions of Black Canadians every single day.

Like when we celebrate Black trailblazers like Annie Saunders, who embodied the entrepreneurial spirt in the 1800s among settlers on Indigenous territories now known as the province of Alberta.

Or when we experience the rich cultural mosaic of Alberta’s African, Caribbean, and Black communities thanks to people like Damion Gallimore. A network analyst in Edmonton, who created resources like JamaicaYEG to promote Jamaican businesses and events across the city.

And when we march alongside people like Andrew Parker, a teacher, athlete, and activist committed to community empowerment by working to improve representation, communication, inclusion and networking for Black teachers in Alberta.

These contributions – and so many more – have made our province a better place for everyone.

But there are many stories of oppression, enslavement, racism and discrimination of Black Canadians that are often underrepresented and unknown.

That’s why it’s essential to share these stories – to see the full picture of our province and country's history.

Today and every day, AUPE recommits to supporting Black Albertans by sharing their stories and taking action like pushing for decent jobs, fair wages, and safer and inclusive workplaces.

Respectfully
Bobby-Joe Borodey
AUPE Vice President

1600s

• 1604 Mathieu Da Costa, the first known person of African heritage, arrived in present day Canada as a multi-lingual interpreter for French explorers Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Du Gua De Monts.
• 1628 Olivier LeJeune was the first recorded enslaved person to live in New France (now Canada). Taken from Africa as a child.
• 1689 King Louis XIV gave permission for colonists in the New World to enslave Pawnees and Africans.

1700s

• 1749-1782 most Black people were enslaved by English or American settlers
• 1775-1783  during the War of American Independence British forces offered freedom to enslaved Africans who joined the British side. About 10% of the United Empire Loyalists who came to the Maritimes were Black, and in particular Nova Scotia. Because of the conditions they faced, about 1,200 Black Loyalists accepted the offer to resettle in Sierra Leone.
• 1793 John Simcoe, abolitionist and Lietenant Governor of Upper Canada, introduced a law that freed enslaved people who were at least 25 years old and made it illegal to bring enslaved people into Upper Canada.

1800s

• 1800-1865 about 30,000 Black people came to Canada via the Underground Railway
• 1807 the Act on the Abolition of the Slave Trade in the British Empire became law
• 1812 The Coloured Corps fought for the British in the War of 1812. Veterans were given land grants in 1815 but most the land wasn't suitable for farming.
• 1833 the Act on the Abolition of Slavery in the British Empire abolished the practice in Canada and most other British colonies.

For more details, see the Canadian Heritage page Significant events in Black Canadian history.

Heritage Canada lists biographies of over 70 Black Canadians who have made contributions to Canada. They range through:

• the enslaved Marie-Josepth Angélique who was tourtured and hanged after being found guilty for starting a fire
• an immigrant cab driver Fred Christie who sued a Montreal tavern for not serving him a beer in 1936
• Viola Davis Desmond, now on Canada's $10 bill, who refused to set in the balcony of movie theatre
• one of the greatest sprinters of all time, Donovan Bailey
• Rosemary Brown who came to Canada from Jamaica who was elected to the BC Legislature in 1972 and ran for the federal New Democratic Party.
• Somalia-born Sharmarke Dubow who was elected to Victoria city council and serves on a national refugee organization
• The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean who served as Canada's Governor General from 2005-2010
• Lawrence "Larry" McLarty, the first Black police officer in Toronto, hired in 1960. The first Black police officer in Canada was Peter Butler. He started his job in 1883.

Fiction - Novels

What We All Long For - Dionne Brand

Washington Black - Esi Edugyan

The Book of Negroes, The Illegal, and Dear Sir, Why I Intend to Burn Your Book - Lawrence Hill

Children's Books

A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart - Zetta Elliott with illustrations by Noa Denmon

The Blue Road a fable of migration (graphic novel) - text by Wayde Compton and illustrations by April ela Noche Milne

Non-Fiction

The Skin We're In - Desmond Cole

In the Black - B. Denham Jolly, memoir about growing up in Toronto and establishing a business

Canada in Africa - Yves Engler, a look at the slave trade and Canada

The Hanging of Angélique - Afua Cooper, a slave woman convicted of starting a fire in Montreal

North of the Color Line: Migration and Black Resistance in Canada, 1870 - 1955 - Sarah-Jane Mathieu

Viola Desmond's Canada - Graham Reynolds, a history of Blacks and racial segregation in Canada

National Film Board films are available online are free to stream.

• Stateless - In 2013 the Dominican Republic’s Supreme Court stripped the citizenship of anyone with Haitian parents, retroactive to 1929, rendering more than 200,000 people stateless. This documentary follows the grassroots campaign of a young attorney named Rosa Iris, as she challenges electoral corruption and fights to protect the right to citizenship for all people.
• Speakers for the Dead - in 1930s Ontario a covers a Black cemetery for a potato field. In the 1980s, descendants of both Black and White settlers restore the cemetery exposing more than old graves.
• Journey to Justice - a look at Black Canadians who took racism to court; includes Viola Desmond and Fred Christie

Check NFB's Focus on Black filmmakers for more titles

On YouTube

• Secret Alberta: The Former Life of Amber Valley - a 2018 award winning video about Amber Valley, the first all-Black settlement in Canada. Located 100 km north of Edmonton.

• Proud of Our History - a public awareness video featuring such Black Canadians as Albertans John Ware and Jerome Iginla.
  
• White Fragility - Professor Dr. Robin DiAngelo reads from her book White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism. She explains and discusses how white people can develop their capacity for more constructive engagement about race

• How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion - Peggy McIntosh at TEDxTimberlaneSchools

• Black Feminism & the Movement for Black Lives - Americans Barbara Smith, Reina Gossett, Charlene Carruthers speaking on a 2016 conference panel

Most Canadian provinces boast at least one organization that is dedicated Black history. Here are key organizations in Western Canada.

Alberta

•  National Black Coalition of Canada Society - Edmonton Chapter - includes events

Saskatchewan

• Saskatchewan African Culture Heritage Museum
• Black History Month Saskatchewan -  include events
• Saskatchewan Interculture Association

British Columbia

• BC Black History Awareness Society

Manitoba

• Black History Manitoba

Canadian Heritage lists a number of organizations and educational resources across Canada

Podcasts

• 1619 (New York Times)
• About Race
• Code Switch (NPR)
• Intersectionality Matters! hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw
• Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast
• Nice White Parents (Serial and The New York Times)
• Pod For The Cause (from The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights)
• Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)
• Seeing White

Articles

Note: If you subscribe to The Atlantic or New York Times, you'll be able to read these articles. If you don't, the organizations may allow between 1 and 3 free reads per month, or require you to start a free trial. You may be able to access the articles through the Lakeland College libraries.

• The 1619 Project (all the articles) New York Times Magazine
• Who Gets to Be Afraid in America? by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi | Atlantic May 12, 2020)
• The Intersectionality Wars by Jane Coaston Vox, May 28, 2019

February has been designated Black History Month in Canada since 1995. 

Jean Augustine, the first black woman to be elected to the House of Commons, presented a motion that was unanimously passed by the House.

The Senate adopted a similar motion in 2008.

The roots of the awareness month go back 2 decades earlier when the Ontario Black History Society petitioned Toronto to proclaim Black History Month. In 1979 the city did. In 1993 the society successfully petitioned the province of Ontario to proclaim the awareness month.

Nova Scotia first observed Black History Month in 1988. In 1996 it was renamed African Heritage Month. Alberta officially proclaimed Black History Month in 2017.

In the United Kingdom Black History Month is celebrated in October. It started in 1987.

In 1976 during the US bicentennial, President Gerald Ford supported making it an awareness month instead of a week.

That week was created in 1926 as Negro History Week. The week included the dates of February 12 and 14, respective birth dates of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.