Centennial Libraries and the Centre for Global Citizenship Education and Inclusion invite you to learn more about the history of anti-black racism in Canada. Watch the podcast, read the books and reports, and increase your awareness of the challenges Black Canadians face.
'Membering by In 'Membering, Clarke shares his own experiences growing up in Barbados and moving to Toronto to attend university in 1955 before becoming a journalist. With vivid realism he describes Harlem of the '60s, meeting and interviewing Malcolm X and writers Chinua Achebe and LeRoi Jones.
Black berry, sweet juice : on being black and white in Canada by In BLACK BERRY, SWEET JUICE, Hill movingly reveals his struggle to understand his own personal and racial identity. Raised by human rights activist parents in a predominantly white Ontario suburb, he is imbued with lingering memories and offers a unique perspective. In a satirical yet serious tone.
Breaking the Ice : The Black Experience in Professional Hockey by Black hockey players from Grant Fuhr to Jarome Iginla speak candidly for the first time about their experiences in the NHL.
Bromley, Tireless Champion for Just Causes by 
I'm Still Here : Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown’s first encounter with a racialized America came at age seven, when she discovered her parents named her Austin to deceive future employers into thinking she was a white man. Growing up in majority-white schools and churches, Austin writes, “I had to learn what it means to love blackness,” a journey that led to a lifetime spent navigating America’s racial divide as a writer, speaker, and expert helping organizations practice genuine inclusion.
They Said This Would Be Fun : Race, Campus Life, and Growing Up by 
Any Known Blood by Spanning five generations, sweeping across a century and a half of almost unknown history, this acclaimed and unexpectedly funny novel is the story of a man seeking himself in the mirror of his family's past. There were Canes in Canada before the United States erupted into civil war. Their roots are deep, their legacy is rich, but Langston Cane V knows little of his heritage.
Book of Negroes by Abducted as an 11-year-old child from her village in West Africa and forced to walk for months to the sea in a coffle—a string of slaves— Aminata Diallo is sent to live as a slave in South Carolina. But years later, she forges her way to freedom, serving the British in the Revolutionary War and registering her name in the historic “Book of Negroes.” This book, an actual document, provides a short but immensely revealing record of freed Loyalist slaves who requested permission to leave the US for resettlement in Nova Scotia, only to find that the haven they sought was steeped in an oppression all of its own.
Brother by Coming of age in The Park, a cluster of town houses and leaning concrete towers in the disparaged outskirts of a sprawling city, Michael and Francis battle against the careless prejudices and low expectations that confront them as young men of black and brown ancestry -- teachers stream them into general classes; shopkeepers see them only as thieves; and strangers quicken their pace when the brothers are behind them. Always Michael and Francis escape into the cool air of the Rouge Valley, a scar of green wilderness that cuts through their neighbourhood, where they are free to imagine better lives for themselves.
The meeting point by This is the first book in Austin Clarke’s acclaimed trilogy about a group of West Indian domestics, their friends, lovers, spouses and employers living in Toronto. In rich, exuberant language, the novel illuminates the world of Bernice Leach, a Barbadian woman, working in the infamous ‘Canadian Domestic Scheme’ as a live-in maid.
No Crystal Stair by Telling the remarkable story of black Americans in the 20th century through the character of Ann Elizabeth Carter, this historical novel weaves real events throughout the tale of America making slow, steady, and still unfinished progress towards racial equality. Raised in the privileged and comfortable world of Atlanta's black elite, Ann Elizabeth still endures the dangers and rank discrimination of the deep south. When she marries Tuskegee Airman Robert Metcalf during World War II, their world broadens to include war-torn Germany, postwar Los Angeles, school integration, marches and sit-ins of the civil rights era, Cold War Europe, and the black separatist movement of the 1960s and early 1970s.
The second life of Samuel Tyne by When Samuel Tyne emigrated from the Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1955, he was determined to accomplish great things. He excelled at Oxford and then came to Canada with the uncle who raised him, leaving the traditions and hard life of his homeland behind. Here, in this nation of immigrants, Samuel would surely be free to follow his destined path to success.
What We All Long For by “They were born in the city from people born elsewhere.” What We All Long For follows the overlapping stories of a close circle of second-generation twenty-somethings living in downtown Toronto. The four characters try to make a life for themselves in the city, supporting one another through their family struggles.Building a Culture of Safety in Higher Education:
Understanding the Intersections of Gender-Based Violence and Anti-Black Racism
Wednesday May 26 | 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
All participants will receive a copy of Eternity Martis’ book.
*Please note this event is only open to Centennial College students and staff.*
Hosted by the Centre for Global Citizenship Education and Inclusion.
On May 26, acclaimed author and Toronto-based journalist Eternity Martis will join the Centennial College community to discuss and strategize new and evolving ways to disrupt toxic campus culture. You are invited to be a part of a critical and powerful conversation alongside Centennial leaders, faculty, support staff and students, to collaboratively take steps towards building a culture of safety, inclusion and belonging.
In her bestselling debut memoir published in 2020, They Said This Would Be Fun, Eternity Martis recounts,
"Instead of focusing on classes and adjusting to my new life as a student, everything had become about the skin I was in. I became a survivor of both inter-partner violence and sexual assault, and had to fight stereotypes about not being the perfect victim. Anger and fear were so etched in my body that I often felt I had no control over myself. Why could people take their anger out on me, but mine was irrational?"
As an important and contemporary resource for post-secondary students and employees, Martis’ book details her experiences of navigating post-secondary as a student of color – accounts that unfortunately are not uncommon for many students who experience diverse and intersecting forms of marginalization. She exposes the unchallenged and entitled culture of racism and sexism that is rampant across many Canadian post-secondary campuses. Insidious forms of systemic harm are no longer hidden behind the walls and computer screens of higher education; they exist in plain view and we are all called to collectively identify, address and challenge them.
Centennial College has established commitments to begin fostering a culture of safety, including priorities to address both gender-based violence and anti-Black racism within higher education, and to examine systemic issues from an intersectional approach, recognizing the complexities of the lives of students and employees who experience inequities based on multiple and compounding oppressions. As part of the College’s commitment to providing inclusive living, working and learning spaces, this event promises to be a powerful opportunity to collaborate across all areas and engage in impactful and transformative change.
Led by Centennial College’s Centre for Global Citizenship and Inclusion, in collaboration with Marketing and Communications, the podcast “Decoding Black,” features hosts Dr. Christopher Stuart Taylor, expert scholar in Immigration History and Black Canadian History, and Letecia Rose, Manager of Partnerships and Programs at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Partnership. The hosts invite listeners to increase their awareness on how to destabilize, deconstruct and disrupt systems of oppression linked to anti-Black racism. Listeners of the podcast will learn diverse perspectives on the Black Canadian experience, and deepen their understanding of critical approaches on how to counteract anti-Black racism and systemic barriers affecting diverse Black communities.
Listen now to Episode 2: The Legacy of Anti-Black Racism in Education
Black Canadians : history, experiences, social conditions by The ongoing struggle against racism and discrimination for black Canadians is explored in this authoritative reference for those seeking to learn more about the black diaspora in North America. This work examines more than 300 years of black Canadian history, from the first migration of slaves, black loyalists, and Civil War refugees to the expansive movement brought about by the establishment of the point system in 1967.
Black Like Who? by Rinaldo Walcott's groundbreaking study of black culture in Canada, this book caused such an uproar upon its publication in 1997 that Insomniac Press has decided to publish a second revised edition of this perennial best-seller.
Colour-Coded : a legal history of racism in Canada, 1900-1950 by Historically Canadians have considered themselves to be more or less free of racial prejudice. Although this conception has been challenged in recent years, it has not been completely dispelled. In Colour-Coded, Constance Backhouse illustrates the tenacious hold that white supremacy had on our legal system in the first half of this century, and underscores the damaging legacy of inequality that continues today.Deemed Unsuitable : blacks from Oklahoma move to the Canadian prairies in search of equality in the early 20th century only to find racism in their new home by 
Demonic Grounds by In Canada, the Caribbean, and the United States, black women inhabit diasporic locations marked by the legacy of violence and slavery. Analyzing diverse literatures and material geographies, McKittrick reveals how human geographies are a result of racialized connections, and how spaces that are fraught with limitation are underacknowledged but meaningful sites of political opposition.
Fear of a Black Nation by In the 1960s, for at least a brief moment, Montreal became what seemed an unlikely centre of Black Power and the Caribbean left.
Flying Fish in the Great White North by As recently as the 1960s, the Canadian government enforced discriminatory, anti-Black immigration policies, designed to restrict and prohibit the entry of Black Barbadians and Black West Indians. The Canadian state capitalized on the public's fear of the "Black unknown" and racist stereotypes to justify their exclusion.
The hanging of Angélique : the untold story of Canadian slavery and the burning of old Montréal by During the night of April 10, 1734, Montréal burned. Marie-Joseph Angélique, a twenty-nine-year-old slave, was arrested, tried, and found guilty of starting the blaze that consumed forty-six buildings. Suspecting that she had not acted alone and angered that she had maintained her innocence, Angélique's condemners tortured her after the trial. She confessed but named no accomplices.
North of the Color Line by North of the Color Line examines life in Canada for the estimated 5,000 blacks, both African Americans and West Indians, who immigrated to Canada after the end of Reconstruction in the United States. Through the experiences of black railway workers and their union, the Order of Sleeping Car Porters, Sarah-Jane Mathieu connects social, political, labor, immigration, and black diaspora history during the Jim Crow era.
A place called heaven : the meaning of being Black in Canada by 
Policing Black Lives by Delving behind Canada's veneer of multiculturalism and tolerance, Policing Black Lives traces the violent realities of anti-blackness from the slave ships to prisons, classrooms and beyond.
Razing Africville by In the 1960s, the city of Halifax razed the black community of Africville under a program of urban renewal and 'slum clearance.' The city defended its actions by citing the deplorable living conditions in Africville, ignoring its own role in the creation of these conditions through years of neglect and the refusal of essential services.
The Road to Now by Blacks have always been a part of the Québec experience-from the original European explorations to enslavement, from Confederation to the present day. Dorothy Williams returns to the roots of black history by chronicling slavery in Montreal, which lasted officially in New France for seventy-one years.
The skin we're in: a year of Black resistance and power by A bracing, provocative, and perspective-shifting book from one of Canada's most celebrated and uncompromising writers, Desmond Cole.
Viola Desmond's Canada by In 1946, Viola Desmond was wrongfully arrested for sitting in a whites-only section of a movie theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. In 2010, the Nova Scotia Government recognized this gross miscarriage of justice and posthumously granted her a free pardon.The Libraries & Learning Centres and GCEI hosted a celebration of Black storytelling, including a keynote from Itah Sadu, owner of A Different Booklist, a Black-owned bookstore in Toronto, on February 24 2021.
Featured documentaries :
How to Be an Antiracist by Antiracism is a transformative concept that reorients and reenergizes the conversation about racism—and, even more fundamentally, points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. At its core, racism is a powerful system that creates false hierarchies of human value; its warped logic extends beyond race, from the way we regard people of different ethnicities or skin colors to the way we treat people of different sexes, gender identities, and body types. Racism intersects with class and culture and geography and even changes the way we see and value ourselves. In How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi takes readers through a widening circle of antiracist ideas—from the most basic concepts to visionary possibilities—that will help readers see all forms of racism clearly, understand their poisonous consequences, and work to oppose them in our systems and in ourselves.
Me and White Supremacy : Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by This eye-opening book challenges you to do the essential work of unpacking your biases, and helps white people take action and dismantle the privilege within themselves so that you can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on people of color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too.
So You Want to Talk about Race by In this New York Times bestseller, Ijeoma Oluo offers a hard-hitting but user-friendly examination of race in America Widespread reporting on aspects of white supremacy -- from police brutality to the mass incarceration of Black Americans -- has put a media spotlight on racism in our society.
White Fragility by The New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality.
Black writers matter by An anthology of African-Canadian writing, Black Writers Matter offers a cross-section of established writers and newcomers to the literary world who tackle contemporary and pressing issues with beautiful, sometimes raw, prose.
Odysseys Home by Odysseys Home: Mapping African-Canadian Literature is a pioneering study of African-Canadian literary creativity, laying the groundwork for future scholarly work in the field. Based on extensive excavations of archives and texts, this challenging passage through twelve essays presents a history of the literature and examines its debt to, and synthesis with, oral cultures.
Scratching the Surface by Scratching the Surface brings together 14 anti-racist feminists who examine ways in which race and gender interact to shape the lives of women of colour in Canada.
Until We Are Free by The killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012 by a white assailant inspired the Black Lives Matter movement, which quickly spread outside the borders of the United States. The movement's message found fertile ground in Canada, where Black activists speak of generations of injustice and continue the work of the Black liberators who have come before them.
We're Rooted Here and They Can't Pull Us Up by Despite the increasing scope and authority of women's studies, the role of Black women in Canada's history has remained largely unwritten and unacknowledged. This silence supports the common belief that Black people have only recently arrived in Canada and that racism is also a fairly recent development.
