I am excited to share one of my latest projects, Tracing Mary Ann Shadd Cary’s Footsteps in Mid-19th Century Toronto, a self-guided walking tour that explores some of the history of Black Toronto during the mid-19th century, including Mary Ann Shadd Cary’s connection to and time in the city. It features people who interacted with one another, organized together, crossed paths, existed and lived in the same space.
 
The tour is available on the Balado Discovery app:

 https://baladodiscovery.com/circuits/1303/

The tour is great for interested individuals, class and school groups, and tourists to the city.
 
Take a picture at the MASC plaque and post on social media using the hashtag #BlackToronto
 
Resources to learn more about MASC are listed in the previous blogpost and materials to learn and teach about Canada’s Black history are compiled on my website.  ​

This year marks the 200th anniversary of Mary Ann Shadd Cary’s birthday (October 9, 1823–June 5, 1893). Shadd Cary  was an antislavery activist, educator, and a trailblazing newspaper editor, journalist, and publisher of the newspaper, The Provincial Freeman. She was born in Delaware and grew up in Philadelphia. Shadd Cary moved to Canada West (Ontario) in 1851 and spent eleven years in the province (1851 - 1863). She had a huge impact on the lives of Black people at the time and left an unforgettable legacy. 

Here are a variety of resources to learn more about Mary Ann Shadd Cary and to teach about her life and significance in classrooms.

​

​My hybrid dissertation includes the creation of an open-access database that will provide a comprehensive enumeration of enslaved Africans held in bondage, the first major scholarly effort to do so. My employment of Black digital humanities involves the the development of biographical narratives of a number of subjects of my research, to ensure that their humanity and contributions are honoured and their memory, often denied, is acknowledged.

This growing activism is a 21st century iteration of the ongoing movement for racial justice for Black children in state educational institutions beginning from post-emancipation, through to the Civil Rights Movement, through to the Black Power Movement, through to today. We must also be reminded of the long history of advocacy and organizing by Black parents, Black communities, and Black educators in pursuit of the eradication of the education debt owed to Black Canadians in Ontario. Dr. Ladson-Billings argues that we need to look at the "education debt that has accumulated over time. This debt comprises historical, economic, sociopolitical, and moral components." Understanding the legacies of educational inequities experienced by Black children elucidates today's outcomes and should be used to guide the actions needed to address persistent anti-Black racism. What is the education debt to Black children given the history?

This week of action encapsulates everything that has been going on in Ontario over the past few decades and functions as a reminder of the universality of anti-Black racism in educational systems. These five days are a call to action to interrupt and dismantle educational policies and practices that harm Black youth.

The four central demands are:
​
End Zero Tolerance
This speaks to the issue of the discipline of Black students and the ways they are criminalized in school spaces. One aspect of this issue that Black communities have raised is SRO programs in schools and how police officers in schools are sometimes used to discipline Black students. An extension of this issue is the role of the educational system in feeding the school-to-prison pipeline. Black communities are seeking solutions such as culturally relevant counselling support and the use of restorative justice to address the racial disparities in discipline.

• Canada’s Largest School Board Votes to End Armed Police Presence in Schools
• Fighting the School-to-Prison Pipeline in Toronto  Podcast
• Suspended sentences: Forging a school-to-prison pipeline?
• Example of Systemic Racism in School Board
• Why Won’t Society Let Black Girls Be Children?
• Study - The Adultification of Black girls 
• Monique Morris - Why Black Girls are Targeted for Punishment at Schools and How to Change That
• Policing Black Lives    by Robyn Maynard
• Restorative Justice: What it is and What it’s Not  in Teaching for Black Lives, Rethinking Schools

 
Fund Counselors
This demand asks educational systems to pay attention to and invest in services that support the mental health and well being of Black children and to address/remove the conditions that negatively impact the healthy development of Black students, such as dealing with the use of the n-word and other racial slurs.

• 'I get nightmares': How racial violence in high schools is taking a mental toll on students
• Racism and Mental Health: Are Schools Hostile Learning Environments for Students of Color? 
• Marginalized People Face a Unique Mental Health Challenge
• Black teens who experience daily racial discrimination show depressive symptoms, study finds

 
​More Black Teachers
The first Black teacher and Black principal in Toronto was Wilson Brooks in 1952 although Black students have attended public schools in that city since its inception in the 1800s. This demand is self explanatory and raises the issue that communities have expressed that teachers should better reflect the changing demographics. Numerous studies have highlighted the benefits of Black teachers to all students, particularly Black teachers with an antiracist pedagogy. It also raises the issues of the working conditions of Black teachers and administrators, as well as the promotion and retention of Black educators.

• Black teachers still face racism on the job in Ontario
• Voices of Ontario Black Teacher Report by ONABSE
•  For Better Student Outcomes, Hire Black Teachers

 
Mandate Black History & Ethnic Studies
This demand seeks redress for the systematic exclusion of African and Black peoples from the official curriculum and a corrective approach to the problematic representation of Black peoples. A quote from the book Teaching for Black Lives succinctly summarizes this: “When Black history and Black contributions are denied in the curriculum and by those who teach it, Black people are themselves denied.” This demand calls for Black and African histories to be constitutive of, not merely add-ons to the provincial curriculum. There is not one specific learning expectation about Black Canadian history that all students in Ontario have to learn, despite a 400-year presence on these colonized lands. I have researched and written about how Black history is taken up in the Ontario SSHG and CWS curriculas in my masters research project, Lend me Your Ear: the Voice of Early African Canadian Communities in Ontario through Petitions  and more recently in my chapter contribution, “Where are the Black People? Teaching Black History in Ontario, Canada”, in the book Perspectives of Black Histories in Schools. My website came about as a response to the exclusion and absence of Black people in the curriculum.

Black History Month was born out of the activism to address the particular forms of exclusion, erasure, and representation of Black history. In the 1920s when Dr. Carter G. Woodson established Negro History Week which evolved into the month-long observance that we recognize today.

There are many studies that discuss the demands from Black students and parents for Black history in the curriculum and describes how this exclusion is a pernicious form of neglect, trauma, and infringement of human rights such as  Towards Race Equity in Education by Dr. Carl James,  The Roots of Youth Violence Report by Roy McMurtry and Dr. Alvin Curling, the Stephen Lewis Report on Race Relations in Ontario, and this recently published article, Ending Curriculum Violence. The Ontario Human Rights Commission states that: 

“The  Code guarantees each person the right to equal treatment in the service of education, without discrimination based on the grounds of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status or disability. This includes equal access to and benefit from Ontario’s education system…”

One of the recent recommendations of the OHRC to education systems to uphold the human rights of children in their charge is to “enhance the curriculum to reflect diversity and include content on human rights.”  Further, many studies discuss the benefits of the integration of Black historical narratives for Black students  and by extension, all students.
 

“Speak to me. Tell me everything. Do not forget.”
- Biton, Chief of Sama, Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

I am thrilled about the release of the Book of Negroes six-part mini-series. I waited in eager anticipation for this month when it would finally be aired. Why you ask?

As an historian and curriculum consultant who specializes in African Canadian history, I am very aware that there are not enough opportunities to see on-screen depictions of the experiences of Black colonists in Canada. This is a much-welcomed rare occasion. 

I was thoroughly captivated by the novel. Three Christmases ago, I stayed up late into the wee hours of the morning to read the book, the illustrated edition signed by Lawrence Hill, over the course of four days. It was such riveting storytelling and I could not put that book down.

I was further enthused when I was asked a couple of months ago to lend my consulting expertise to revise Historica’s Black History Education Guide 2015, a teaching resource for the Book of Negroes novel, to include the widely anticipated mini-series.

Another reason for my deep interest in seeing the novel come to the screen is that for a segment of the story, this moving narrative centres the Black female Loyalist voice within the realm of Canadian history, a space where the Black Canadian experience continues to be excluded or marginalized.

Aminata’s story and the experiences of Black United Empire Loyalists can be taught through grades 6 to 12 using a wide range of available online and book resources.

NEW! The CBC Teacher Resource Guide for the Book of Negroes miniseries is now available! I was thrilled to develop the elementary level portion of the guide. Videos of the Book of Negroes miniseries are available on the CBC website http://www.cbc.ca/bookofnegroes/. Preview all videos before showing in class. For middle school grades, select appropriate segments.

The last stop of enslaved Africans before their forced removal from the continent was one of the coastal European slave forts, where they were held in pens. A Virtual Tour of Goree Island provides some insight into the final moments before departure to the Middle Passage.

Freedom Child of the Sea by Richardo Keens-Douglas is a picture book that touches on what could have happened to Sanu (the pregnant woman on the slave ship) before Aminata offers to “catch” her baby. This picture book is about spirits of a pregnant enslaved woman and her unborn child, who were thrown overboard a slave ship rescuing a drowning boy.

At the time when the Black Loyalists arrived in Canada, they would have encountered enslaved Blacks. There was an active trade in African bodies in Canada. Blacks were bought and sold at auctions, through newspaper ads, and were bequeathed in wills.  Approximately the same amount of enslaved Blacks as there were free Black Loyalists were brought in to Canada by white Loyalists entering Canada. Documents related to the enslavement of Africans in Canada are very useful for providing deeper context into Black life in Canada after the American Revolution. Check under “Primary/ Secondary Source Documents” from the Resources chiclet on my website.

The actual Books of Negroes, the historical 150-page military ledger, is accessible online. The Nova Scotia Archives digitized the Book of Negroes artefact and made it searchable:  http://novascotia.ca/archives/virtual/africanns/BN.asp. This can be used in conjunction with the transcription of the Book of Negroes to allow for an easier read for students: http://blackloyalist.com/cdc/index.htm (see ‘Documents’)

Lord Dunmore's  Proclamation (1775),  which offered freedom to enslaved Blacks who  supported the British cause, is available online in original form and transcribed.

CBC has created an app called The Book of Negroes Historical Guide.

Black Loyalists also settled in New Brunswick. Here are documents and lesson plans for examining the live of Black Loyalists in New Brunswick.

Loyalist historian and researcher Stephen has written many copyrighted articles on Black Loyalists. Here is an index of his articles that were published in Loyalist Trails. They are very useful reference materials that provide a bit more insight into the lives of some of the men and women recorded in the Book of Negroes. 

Many Black Loyalists remained in the United States. The Book of Negroes, Africans in America Part 2 and Black Loyalists, Africans in America Part 2 by PBS are great resources.

Black Loyalists also entered Canada through the Niagara region, including Richard Pierpoint and several other Black Loyalists. The Richard Pierpoint Heritage Minute and the Learning Tool and the Supplemental Activities, which I helped to develop, can be used to teach the perspective of these early settlers.

We Stand on Guard for Thee: Teaching and Learning the African Canadian Experience in the War of 1812 uses augmented reality, or digital 3D storytelling to bring a select number of Black Loyalist narratives to life. I developed the lesson plans to support these stories. These are good resources to explore Black Loyalists in southwestern Ontario.

My  July 2014 Blog  "We Would  Die for Freedom: Integrating the African Canadian Narrative in the Teaching of the War of 1812," discusses additional resources for teaching about Black Loyalists. 

Documents Related to Black Loyalists in Canada

Here, Black Loyalists, 1783-1792, the Nova Scotia Archives has a range of related primary documents available including passports, petitions, manumission papers, runaway ads, and muster rolls.

Books

The Black Loyalists: The Search for a Promised Land in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone, 1783-1870 by James W. St. G. Walker is the book that influenced Lawrence Hill’s interest on this topic.
Black Loyalists: Southern Settlers of Nova Scotia's First Free Black Communities by Ruth Holmes Whitehead.
Birchtown and the Black Loyalists by author Wanda Taylor.

The Canadian publisher of the Book of Negroes developed a teacher’s guide for studying the novel in grade 11 and 12 classrooms.
http://lawrencehill.com/BON-Teachers-Guide.pdf

The range of lessons on Black Loyalists that can be taught in classrooms must also include lessons that teach students to be critical of how African Canadians have been forcefully removed/ denied space on the Canadian landscape, marginalized or excluded from the Canadian narrative. African Canadians have been physically removed as in the instances of the Shelbourne Riots, the immigration ban in 1911, and the demolition of Africville (many residents of Africville were descendants of Black Loyalists listed in the Book of Negroes). Uncomfortable but necessary conversations need to be had about the persistence of historically racist perceptions as well as the legacy and implications of historical exclusion today. There is also an ethical judgment dimension of the mistreatment of African Canadians that is raised – 206 years of enslavement and a history of racial discrimination and segregation that is not readily acknowledged or widely taught. Making connections to the recently launched UN Decade for People of African Descent (January 2015 – December 2024) can get students to explore how they can contribute to addressing issues of racism and human rights in Canada.

In the novel, Chief Biton’s words, “Speak to me. Tell me everything. Do not forget," resonated with me. His words were adapted for the TV screen in episode one in the powerful scene on the slave ship when the men held in shackles called out their names, beckoning the young Aminata to repeat their African names and where they were stolen from. The mini-series offers the space and opportunity to speak about Black Loyalists in Canada, to speak to the harsh realities of enslavement and anti-Black racism in Canada. By engaging this topic in the classroom, students are encouraged to remember - remember the lives, the hardships, the perseverance, and the contributions of Black Loyalist men and women; and remember their names.

At almost every workshop I facilitate I am asked by teachers about the availability of resources in the French language to teach about the African Canadian experience. In this post, I have compiled a list to share: 

NEW!   Kayak Magazine Trousse éducative — l’histoire des Noirs

NEW!   Breaking the Colour Barrier: the Chatham  Coloured All-Stars  , curriculum francais

Black Loyalists in New Brunswick

African Nova Scotians: in the Age of Slavery and Abolition

We Stand on Guard for Thee: Teaching and Learning the African Canadian Experience in the War of 1812. I worked on this project on Blacks in the War of 1812. Some of these narratives and lesson plans are in French.

I developed the learning tools for the Historica Heritage Minute on Richard Pierpoint. Here are the learning resources:
Richard Pierpoint Heritage Minute Learning Tool
Richard Pierpoint Heritage Minute Supplementary Learning Tool

“The war of complexional distinction is upon us, it is more ravaging to us as a people than that of Mars. But men, as long as this flag shall wave over you, you may rest assured that no man, or set of men, or nations, can successfully grind you down under the iron heel of oppression.” – Committee of Coloured Women (wives of the men of the all-Black Victoria Pioneer Rifles), Vancouver, British Columbia, 1864.
 
2014 is a particularly significant year for marking Remembrance Day. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the First World War and the 75th anniversary of the Second World War. This blog post to encourage teachers to be intentional in including the stories and experiences of African Canadian men and women in both conflicts as they begin to plan in-class activities and school assemblies.


Black men have a long history of fighting in defence of the British colony of British North America (now Canada) and later, the Dominion of Canada, even in the absence of full citizenship rights and discrimination throughout society. At the turn of the 20th century, African Canadians faced discrimination in housing, employment, and education. In 1911, the government of Canada placed a 1-year ban on the immigration of African Americans into the Prairie Provinces.

Despite facing racism in society and by the government, hundreds of Black men sought to volunteer their service to defend the colony and country. Sadly however, discrimination extended to military service.

When men wishing to enlist attended recruiting centres, they were turned away, a common unwritten practice. Hamilton’s first Black postal carrier, George Morton Jr., wrote a letter to Sir Sam Hughes, Minister of Militia and Defence in September of 1915 asking “to be informed if your Department has any absolute rule, regulations, or restrictions which prohibits, disallows or discriminates against the enlistment and enrolment of colored men of good character and physical fitness as soldiers” because “a number of colored men in this city (Hamilton), who have offered enlistment and service, have been turned down and refused, solely on the ground of color or complexioned distinction…” (Letter available under Resources).

To meet recruiting demands while addressing the protests of the African Canadian community, the Canadian Militia Department established the Construction Battalion #2, a segregated military unit in which Black men could serve. Raised in Nova Scotia, more than 300 Black men from across Canada enlisted in the Construction Battalion #2, risking their lives to fight and work for a common cause, but separated by race.            

In the Second World War, Black men once again answered the call of the Canadian military, this time serving in integrated units.  Hundreds of African Canadian men deployed to Europe. Some fought on the front lines while others performed equally essential duties in labor units building trenches, roads, and bridges. Hundreds of African Canadian men including Stanley Grizzle and Owen Rowe served as soldiers. The Honourable Lincoln Alexander, Leonard Braithwaite, and Alvin Duncan of Oakville were some of the Black men who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force.  

African Canadian soldiers hoped that their military service, along with the war efforts of the Black community back home, would translate into furthering human rights for African Canadians. Many were blatantly reminded that nothing had changed. In 1943, Hugh Burnett, was refused a cup of coffee at a Windsor restaurant while wearing his military uniform.

Another group of Canadians of colour whose military service should be taught are Sikh Canadians. Sikh men served in the Canadian military in both world wars. Buckam Singh, who immigrated to Canada from Punjab, India as a young boy, served in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces and received a Victory Medal. Nine other Sikh Canadians fought in WWI at a time when Sikhs were barred allowed from immigrating to Canada (see 1914 Kamagata Maru incident). Only Sikh Canadians who served in the Second World War were granted voting rights in 1947.

Sources for teaching about the role of Sikh Canadians include:

• Sikh Canadians in the First World War
  
• Canadian Soldier Sikhs: A Little Story in a Big War, OMNI Television, 2012
  
• One-Day Exhibit on Sikhs in the First World War in Malton on September 27
  
• “Victory Medal Found in England Leads to the Kitchener Tombstone of World War I Soldier,” EQAO Activity
  
• “The Reunion” by Jacqueline Pearce
  

The military contributions of Aboriginals should also be recognized in our schools. Nearly 10, 000 Aboriginal men and women enlisted and served in the first and second world wars. They served as soldiers, sailors, and nurses. Similar to African Canadians and Sikh Canadian, Aboriginal people faced service restrictions because of their race. Positions of commissioned officers were off limits to non-Whites. Aboriginal peoples volunteered to fight overseas at a time when their communities remained under the grip of the oppressive policy of forced assimilation, with Aboriginal children were being taken from their families and placed in residential schools. The cultures and languages Aboriginal peoples were under perpetual assault and Aboriginal communities were stepping up their fight for the federal government.  Their service in the Canadian military is another example of marginalized Canadians battling for equality and human rights on many fronts.   

Suggested resources:

• Remembrance Day: Aboriginal Soldiers and History
  
• Turtle Island Native Network Presents Stories About Veterans and Serving Members of the Military
  
• Aboriginal People in the Canadian Military 
  

In spite of and because of the social injustices they experienced, the willingness and resolve of African Canadians, Sikh Canadians, Aboriginals and other groups to serve in the military should be woven firmly into the national Remembrance Day narrative.

Infusing these rich stories and varied perspectives challenge the racialized distinction and exclusion still prevalent in national memorials. Incorporating the experiences of these groups in our military helps students to develop a deeper, critical understanding of the racialization of military service and representation in commemorations, what happened in the past and how many of these barriers have been broken down. That means teaching about Black men being turned away from recruiting stations when they presented themselves to enlist and being rejected as volunteers; how their service was restricted because of their race, and how for some, the service of Black men was and has been deemed less valuable even though they fought and died alongside soldiers of European descent; what their lives were like after returning from Europe and how very little changed on the racial discrimination front; that Black mothers such as Edith Holloway, publically mourned their sons who died in combat.

Schools play an integral role in shaping public memory. Memory has a strong impact on how an individual sees and locates themselves and others in public spaces and reflected in the national heritage. Practices of remembrance such as Remembrance Day that includes the narratives of people of African descent help to reduce the displacement experienced, especially by Black students. The integration of African Canadian military experiences into the curriculum also teaches students that Canada was built and defended by Canadians of all backgrounds. Additionally, such an inclusion demonstrates that the contributions of African Canadian to the war efforts, who fought on two battlefields – the war theatre in Europe and the anti-Black racism in Canadian society – have benefitted many people.

There are direct Social Studies and History connections in grade 2, grade 6, and grade 8. There are also Canadian and World Studies links in grade 10 and grade 12 history, as well as to the new Social Sciences and Humanities courses on Equity Studies. Of course, there are also cross-curricular links to Language, the arts, and other subjects. A wide array of resources, like George Morton’s letter to the federal government, are available to teach about the experiences and narratives of Black Canadians who served in both world wars.

 Some resources include:

• Black Canadian Veterans’ Stories of War Facebook page is a phenomenal resource on honouring the military service of African Canadians. There are photos, letters, military records, interviews, poems written by soldiers, and documentaries that can be accessed and used in the classroom.
• Molly Lamb Bobak’s painting of African Canadian female Private Roy of the Canadian Women’s Army Corps
• Black Canadian Veterans of the Second World War
  
• Military, Windsor African Canadian Communities
  
• Black Canadians in Uniform: a Proud Tradition, Veteran’s Affairs Canada.
  
• Calvin Ruck, Canada’s Black Battalion, 1916-1920, Halifax: Nimbus Publishing, 1987.
  
• Stanley Grizzle, My Name’s Not George: the Story of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in Canada, Umbrella Press, 1998.
  
• Honour Before Glory, Anthony Sherwood Productions, 2001 (about the Construction Battalion #2). 
  

These resources can assist teachers in utilizing varied primary and secondary sources to present a cohesive, comprehensive and historically accurate picture of the war eras and to teach students to analyze the historical impact of war on the Canadian homefront as it relates to Black Canadians.

Be inclusive of the African Canadian perspective in Remembrance Day commemorations and acknowledge African Canadians’ struggle for equality in military service and in Canadian society. Black men have an extensive history of fighting in defence of Canada as a British colony and a country going back to the 17th century and Black women have always supported the war effort at home and abroad. It is only right that we never forget that.


                                                                                                                       (Images courtesy of Black Canadian Veterans of War)

Freedom is never granted; it is won. Justice is never given; it is exacted. Freedom and justice must be struggled for by the oppressed of all lands and races, and the struggle must be continuous, for freedom is never a final fact, but a continuing evolving process to higher and higher levels of human, social, economic, political and religious relationships. 
                       – Asa Philip Randolph, founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

Labour Day is an opportune time to reflect on the history of Black workers in Canada and as a signal of the new school year, the occasion is a good prompt to think about ways to teach about the history and experiences of African Canadian workers, and the situations facing present and future workers of African descent.

People of African descent have laboured in Canada for 400 years. The earliest African workers in Canada were primarily enslaved, forced to work in various capacities without compensation. Because they were considered by law to be chattel property and not human beings, they had no rights. The institution of slavery existed in Canada for a little over 200 years under which time enslaved Black men, women, and children worked as domestics in the homes of White politicians, church clergy, business owners, and other Europeans settlers. Enslaved Blacks cleared land and farmed it for their owners. They constructed buildings and made various products such as potash, soaps, candles, maple syrup, wagons, shoes, and worked in various skilled trades.

Following the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire in 1834, Canada attracted thousands of African American freedom-seekers and free Blacks, who settled across Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime provinces.  Black workers in the 19th century worked in hired positions and operated a variety of businesses to sustain their families and to develop their local communities.  Black wage labourers faced racial discrimination in their work places, the labour market, and in society that century persists to today. They were relegated to the lowest paying jobs, largely in the service industry. Black workers were denied skilled employment and had little recourse as they were initially excluded from the emerging labour movement in the country. 

To effect change, African Canadians galvanized and challenged the inequality and racism they faced. They held public meetings, wrote petitions, and launched court challenges, all with the aim of tackling racial discrimination, including in employment. In the early 1940s, Black sleeping car porters in Canada began organizing and formed Canadian branches of the all-Black Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. The book, “My Name’s Not George: the Story of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in Canada” captures Stanley Grizzle’s experience as a sleeping car porter and WWII veteran. A teacher’s guide is available at www.yorku.ca/acc/library/html, developed by the African Canadian Literature Project.

Black workers and their families, a large number of them railway porters, established communities in various parts of the country.  In 2014, Canada Post commemorated Hogan’s Valley and Africville with stamps for Black History Month.

African Canadians joined efforts with other social groups to lobby the government to address discrimination.  Their persistence and activism resulted in the passage of Ontario’s Fair Employment Practices Act in 1951 that set the foundation for improved working conditions and worker’s rights for all Ontarians and Canadians.  

So why reflect on the experiences and contributions of African Canadian workers from the early 1600s to today?  People can gain a deeper appreciation of the long history of Blacks in Canada, to recognize the discrimination they faced, to highlight their determination and vigilance for better working and social conditions, and to show how their efforts have helped to strengthen the Canadian fabric. Critical reflection can also reveal how African Canadian workers broke and continue to break barriers and have made tremendous contributions despite the racial discrimination they encountered. For example, Albert Jackson who, in 1858, was brought as a baby by his mother to freedom in Toronto, was hired as Toronto’s first Black postman in 1882. Rosemary Brown was the first Black woman elected to a provincial legislative in British Columbia in 1972.  In 1986 Corrine Sparks became the first provincial judge in Nova Scotia. More recently, in 2012 Devon Clunis of the Winnipeg Police Service became the first Black Police Chief in Canada.

One of the most impactful things that Social Studies and History teachers can do in their classrooms is to include visual representations of Black workers, past and present. It is important not only that students of African descent see themselves reflected in the curriculum but that other students see Blacks reflected as equal participants in Canadian society. When I debriefed a Black History Month presentation I conducted with some grade 4 and 5 classes, I asked them what they learned from an activity where they matched the definitions of colonist occupations to the images of Black colonist workers. A student concluded that they learned that African Canadians did jobs that other Canadians did. A simple, but perfect analysis.

Labour Day also serves as a call to those who support equity and social justice to continue to fight for racialized workers who face high unemployment, less pay for same work, and seemingly unbreakable glass ceilings. Consider in 2013 that the Ontario unemployment rate for youth between the ages of 15 and 24 was between 16 and 17.1%, higher than the average Canadian range of 13.5 to 14.5%. Statistics show that the unemployment rate for Black youth is the highest amongst any of the visible minority groups at, almost twice the rate of all youth workers. Teachers have to be aware of what their students of African descent face in the working world and work to educate them for success. Racialized students already face barriers to securing employment that reflects their education, skills and abilities. If they don't graduate from high school or don't go on to post-secondary education, we are further crippling their ability to secure employment and be productive citizens. Therefore efforts to engage students in their learning through culturally relevant teaching, for example, and keeping them in school must be a priority. This is one way of ensuring equity in education for African Canadian students, goals set out by the Ministry of Education in Achieving Excellence: A Renewed Vision for Education in Ontario for all students in Ontario.

All working people are important contributors to our society. The presentation of the working people of in classrooms should be more inclusive of the presence of African Canadians. Teaching students about Canada’s labour movement should include the struggles and experiences of Blacks workers, celebrate the victories against racial discrimination in employment, and encourage young people to take action against the challenges that many workers still face.

Suggested Resources:

“...and Still I Rise: A History of African Canadian Workers in Ontario, 1900 – Present” (parts of the original exhibit)
http://www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca/edu/ViewLoitCollection.do?method=previewAbout&lang=EN&id=18598

“...and Still I Rise: A History of African Canadian Workers in Ontario, 1900 – Present” Teacher Guide
http://teachingafricancanadianhistory.weebly.com/lesson-plans.html