By Simona Siad January 27, 2010
Rosemary Sadlier volunteers many hours researching, writing and speaking to students, citizens and government about why we should be promoting black history and celebrating black Canadian pioneers. In doing so, Sadlier has become quite the pioneer herself.
It was Sadlier, an author and the president of the Ontario Black History Society, and her organization, working in tandem with MP and Parliamentary Secretary Jean Augustine, who were the initiators of the formal proclamations and the national declaration of February as Black History Month in Canada.
“It was through the efforts of the Ontario Black History Society that the celebration became a mainstream thing. I think that’s a really key thing. We know we’re here, we know we’ve done great things,” says Sadlier. “But it’s the people we interact with, the people we live beside, go to school with and potentially get hired by. Those are the people who also need to learn more about who and what we are, and how we have contributed to the development of this country.”
Across the country, in Nova Scotia, Shari Shortliffe works as the Office Administrator for the Black Loyalist Heritage Society, a national not-for-profit organization committed to discovering, interpreting, safeguarding and promoting the history and heritage of the Black Loyalists.
The Black Loyalists were a group of men, women and children of African descent who escaped from colonial freedom during the American Revolution, to earn their freedom by supporting the British fight against the Rebels.
After the American Revolution, the British settled more than 3,000 Black Loyalists and 1,200 slaves and servants in British-controlled, North American colonies, mostly Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
Every year Shortliffe and her team distribute kente cloth pins to various businesses, organizations and schools in Nova Scotia. The kente cloth pin is made from kente African cloth, and her teams attach a card explaining the meaning of the kente cloth and how Black History Month started in Canada.
“We strongly believe it is important for all Canadians to learn about black history and promote universal recognition of the ancestry of the Black Loyalist Society as a nascent Canadian heritage community, having been among the original settlers of Canada, and having had no prior citizenship in any other country,” says Shortliffe.
While many Canadians are at least slightly aware of Nova Scotia’s rich black heritage, or at least its large African Canadian community, some may be surprised to learn Oakville, Ontario has a strong connection to black history as well.
Bill Nesbitt, Museum Supervisor at the Oakville Museum at Erchless Estate, says it is a reaction he often gets. “People are absolutely amazed. They have no idea what a large part Oakville played in the Underground Railroad,” says Nesbitt.
Oakville Museum at Erchless Estate is currently showcasing several exhibits including a Black History exhibit and the Underground Railroad: Next Stop, Freedom! bilingual exhibition. According to Nesbitt the exhibits have been very popular (one includes a projection of the 3-D “ghost,” Deborah Brown, who tells her life story as a slave in Maryland who comes and settles in Canada) and are often requested for showings in schools and at Black History Month events.
“It think people are surprised of Oakville’s Black History connection because Oakville was kind of a way station. Most of the black settlers who came to Oakville didn’t stay in Oakville; they moved on to other communities. But Oakville has a wonderful history and we are trying to get the word out,” he says.
Creating initiatives with museums, libraries and schools is something Sarah Onyango, Community Outreach Officer of Black History Ottawa, is currently working hard at doing. So far this year, Black History Ottawa is partnering with the Ottawa Public Library, Ottawa Police and the Children’s Aid Society to create powerful initiatives towards black Canadian historical research and education. This year, in a nod towards the 2010 Olympics, their theme is “Our Canadian Story.”
“Black Canadians who tell me “we know our history” are usually talking about Ethiopian history, Ghanaian history, Nigerian history, American history, Jamaican history and Trinidadian history,” says Onyango. “That’s great. [But] that’s not Canadian history. There really seems to be a disconnect. There is no sense of ownership of Canada. No sense of belonging to Canada and no sense of invested emotional interest in Canada,” she says. “We are not, in our communities, reinforcing Canadian citizenship. How about we celebrate what is Canadian about us? How about we celebrate the contributions of people who came from the islands, from the continent, who chose to come to Canada?”
And when reinforcing Canadian black history and citizenship, timing is everything, says Sadlier. Hence her organization’s motto for this year: “The Time is Now!”
“What better opportunity do we have than right now to take advantage of the fact that the first Afrocentric school in the city of Toronto has been created; to take advantage of the fact the first black District School Board Director has been appointed to the City of Toronto; to take advantage of the fact that in Toronto Police Services it’s possible that there will soon be a head who is of African origin,” says Sadlier. “And, of course, we are not working in isolation, we now have an African American president.
“What better time to be putting our needs, our issues, our culture, our heritage on the front burner than right now?”
