First-of-its-kind symposium on Black communities in Atlantic Canada

Halifax symposium aims to uncover the hidden histories of Black communities in Atlantic Canada.

“Uncovering the Hidden Histories of Black Communities in Atlantic Canada,” a first-of-its-kind symposium, came to Dalhousie University in Halifax this week.

Claudine Bonner, Canadian research chair in Racial Justice and African Diaspora Migration in Atlantic Canada, and Isaac Saney, coordinator of the Black and African Diaspora Studies program, at Dalhousie organized the event.

“Atlantic Canada is the home to Black history in Canada, its presence is over 400 years but it’s somehow a hidden secret, we don’t talk about it, we don’t know about it. We have an assumption that people of African descent are new to Canada,” says Bonner.

The turnout was a lot larger than they expected, both online and in person.

“Initially we only expected to have 20, 25 people come and have it as a very intimate gathering, right, where we would have presentations delivered, discussion, exchange of ideas and so on. But there so was much interest, it ballooned, right, we had close to 100 registrants, and the attendance has been tremendous,” says Saney.

Bonner had the idea to bring historians, archeologists, activists, librarians, museum workers and students together to preserve the past.

“It’s bringing together professional historians, both in the academy and at various institutions, as well as community historians and interdisciplinary scholars to explore the exciting, richly captured but largely ignored and sometimes erased history of Black communities in the Atlantic provinces,” says Saney.

“A symposium is not just about finding a way to disseminate the information but to get people interested in studying this material. In knowing that there is a field of study that involves Black Canadian history of Black Canadian archeology, of Black Canadian library studies and so on and so forth,” says Bonner.

Sylvia D. Hamilton, a retired professor at University of King’s College, was a keynote speaker at Friday’s event. The title of her presentation was “On the Soil of my Ancestors.”

“I’ll be looking at some of the challenges that early Black refugees faced in Nova Scotia but also the triumphs, the challenges and the many people that have worked to make this province the place that it is today,” says Hamilton.

Hamilton says it’s important to learn about and understand each other’s backgrounds.

“I think (that) can generate respect and that is so important in these days because there are a lot of times when respect is not given and we are all humans and humans deserve respect and care,” says Hamilton. “I think if we can begin to learn about each other and the contributions of African Nova Scotians, African Canadians, it’s very, very significant to the development of this province and this country.”

Afua Cooper, a professor from the University of Toronto, discussed the enslavement of Black women in Canada through a feminist lens Friday morning.

“We look at the fearless intersectionality that was embedded in the Black body, the Black enslaved woman’s body and to see how that impacted her experience of slavery in Canada,” says Cooper.

Cooper says she has spent much of her time researching and writing. She loves to share her knowledge with other people, educating them and bringing the stories to the world.

“I talk about the struggles and the trauma that Black women endured during slavery. My focus was on two women, one of them was called Diana Basian and she lived in Cape Breton, she was raped as a 15-year-old girl, she got pregnant with twins, she died in childbirth. I look at the trauma of enslavement, the lack of protection for Black women and girls,” says Cooper.

Keisha Cuffie is a student at Carleton University and she was invited to speak at the event on Thursday and Friday.

“I came across it through our school sending out a newsletter and I thought this is something that I must be a part of because I am really focused on Black Canadian history in the national scope and early 19th century, late 18th century particularly,” says Cuffie.

Cuffie felt honoured to present on the same stage as some leading names in the field.

“The collaborative force that is built here I think cannot be understated, because we all come from everywhere. I came from Ottawa, I see people from Toronto, Nova Scotia of course and New Brunswick,” says Cuffie. “This will all help make my research richer and in turn help to benefit my community,” says Cuffie.

The end goal for this two-day event is to create a working society to continue to share these histories about the region.

“It will be a group of people who are with a specific interest in Black Atlantic Canadian history in terms of preservation, research and dissemination. It’s a group that will support students in the process of learning and researching this history and a group that will work to publicize the history from this region,” says Bonner.

Bonner adds that although this is the first symposium of its kind, it is not the last and they are planning to hold another one next year in a different Maritime province.

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