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This is a collection of multiple resources to help illuminate the context of black life and black history in Canada because “crowd-sourced syllabi are acts of resistance.” This hashtag was developed by Anthony Morgan, a lawyer and community advocate, after questions surrounding the necessity of Black Lives Matter Toronto sparked off after the group’s protests at Pride on July 5th. You can read more about this in Morgan’s interview with The Toronto Star here. The compilation of materials from this crowd-sourced syllabus was compiled by and will continue to be updated by Huda Hassan. For any and all additional contributions to #BlackLivesCDNSyllabus please either add to this document (suggested changes will be reviewed).

Articles on this project:

  1. The Toronto Star 
  2. Canadian Art
  3. The Fader 
  4. Storify

Essays and books 

  • Black Like Who by Rinaldo Walcott
  • Fear of a Black Nation: Race, Sex & Security in Sixties Montreal by David Austin
  • We’re Rooted Here & They Can't Pull Us Up by P. Bristow, L. Carty, A. Cooper, S. Hamilton, A. Shadd,
  • The Promised Land: History and Historiography of the Black Experience in Chatham-Kent's Settlements and Beyond by Boulou Ebanda de B’béri, Nina Reid-Maroney, and Handel Kashope Wright,
  • Scratching the Surface: Canadian Anti-Racist Feminist Thought by Enakshi Dua and Angela Robertson
  • Science quarrels sculpture: The politics of reading Sarah Baartman by Katherine McKittrick
  • Piece of my heart: A lesbian of colour anthology by Makeda Silvera
  • Odysseys Home: Mapping African-Canadian Literature by George Elliott Clarke
  • Viola Desmond's Canada: A History of Blacks and Racial Segregation in the Promised Land by Graham Reynolds
  • North of the Color Line: Migration and Black Resistance in Canada, 1870-1955 by Sarah-Jane Mathieu
  • The Road to Now: A History of Blacks in Montreal by Dorothy Williams
  • Deemed Unsuitable: Blacks from Oklahoma Move to the Canadian Prairies in Search of Equality by Bruce R. Shepard
  • The First Black Prairie Novel by Katrina Vernon
  • Bluesprint: Black British Columbian Literature and Orature by Wayde Compton
  • No Place Like Home: African Refugees and the Emergence of a New Queer Frame of Reference by Notisha Massaquoi
  • Let The Niggers Burn: The Sir George Williams Affair & its Caribbean Aftermath by Dennis Forsythe
  • The Ethics of learning from Rwandan survivor communities by Umwali Sollange & MJ Rwigema
  • The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
  • Any Known Blood by Lawrence Hill
  • On the destruction of Black communities: Razing Africville by Jennifer Nelson
  • Being Brown: A Very Public Life by Rosemary Brown
  • Natural Woman: The Search for Self in Black Canadian Women’s Literature by Sharon Morgan Beckford
  • A Recent History of Racial Bias and Policing in Canada: https://ccla.org/a-recent-history-of-racial-profiling-and-policing/
  • On being Black in Canada: Black Berry, Sweet Juice by Lawrence Hill
  • A Place Called Heaven by Cecil Foster
  • Moving Beyond Borders: A History of Black Canadian and Caribbean Women in the Diaspora by Karen Flynn
  • Black Canadians by Joseph Mensah
  • Tireless champion for just causes : memoirs of Bromley L. Armstrong by Bromley Armstrong
  • My name's not George: The story of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters by John Cooper
  • Ma-Ka Diasporic Juks: Contemporary Writing by Queers of African Descent by Debbie Douglas & co.
  • Niggers This Is Canada by Odimumba Kwamdela
  • Race On Trial: Black Defendants in Ontario's Criminal Courts by Barrington Walker
  • Colour Coded: A Legal History of Racism in Canada, 1900-1950 by Constance Backhouse
  • My Name's Not George: The Story of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters: Personal Reminiscences of Stanley G. Grizzle by Stanley G. Grizzle with John Cooper
  • The Hanging of Angelique by Afua Cooper
  • Native Song by David Woods
  • The Meeting Point by Austin Clarke
  • ‘Membering by Austin Clarke
  • Constellations of Black Radical Imagining Black Arts and Popular Education (anthology) editors: Luam Kidane and Hawa Mire
  • Live from the Afrikan Resistance by El Jones
  • Black Confrontation in Sixties Halifax by James W. St. G. Walker
  • Black Geographies and the Politics of Place by Katherine McKittrick (Editor), Clyde Woods (Editor)
  • Demonic Grounds: Black Women and the Cartographies of Struggle by Katherine McKittrick
  • Theorizing Empowerment: Canadian Perspectives on Black Feminist Thought by Notisha Massaquoi (Editor), Njoki Nathani Wane (Editor)
  • The Skin I’m In: I’ve been interrogated by police more than 50 times—all because I’m black by Desmond Cole

Films, Documentaries, and Videos

Photographers 

Visual Artists

  • Camille Turner
  • Sandra Brewster
  • Michele Pearson Clarke
  • Komi Olaf
  • Kalkidan Assefa
  • Quentin Vercitty
  • Danillo McCallum
  • Chiedza Pasipanodya
  • Bishara Mohamed
  • Allan Andre
  • Kosi Nnebe
  • Syrus Marcus Ware

Poets, Creative Writers

  • Ayanna Black
  • Audrey Dwyer
  • Dionne Brand
  • George Elliott Clarke
  • d’bi.young Anitafrika
  • Esi Edugyan
  • Faduma Mohamed
  • Cecily Nicholson
  • Lorna Goodison
  • Keisha Monique Simpson
  • Dahveed Delisca
  • Sabrina Moella
  • Nalo Hopkinson
  • Kemba King
  • Djanet Sears (playwright, actor, director)
  • Adebe Derango-Adem, Poet
  • Motion (playwright, emcee)
  • Trey Anthony ( playwright)
  • Darren Anthony (playwright)
  • Donna Michelle St Bernard (playwright, writer, rapper)
  • El Jones
  • Afua Cooper
  • James W. St. G. Walker
  • Ella Cooper
  • Prufrock Shadowrunner (spoken word artist)
  • Lisa Codrington
  • Marcia Johnson
  • Makambe Simamba
  • Andrew Moodie
  • Cheryl Foggo
  • Joseph Jomo Pierre

Music

Singers/Musicians

  • Four the Moment
  • Jackie Shane
  • Zaki ibrahim
  • Amenta Muses
  • Motion
  • Ian kamau
  • Tanika Charles
  • Cold Specs
  • Shay Lia
  • Keita Juma
  • Brendan Phillips
  • Shad
  • Shi Wisdom
  • Spek Won
  • Lunice
  • Kaytranada
  • Daniel Ceaser
  • Kreesha Turner
  • Trish Music
  • TRIPSIXX
  • Chibi
  • Haley Smalls
  • ROJO (Rochelle Jordan)
  • This is Nevin (Nevin Sinclair)
  • The OBGMs
  • Adria Kia
  • JAKHOY
  • Naadei
  • Matthew Progress
  • LolaBunz
  • Leila Hendrix
  • Top 5
  • Cadence Weapon
  • Lorraine Klaasen
  • Natasha Waterman
  • Amai Kuda
  • John River
  • Elena Stoodley
  • Elle Barbara

Dancers/Choreographers

  • Vivine Scarlett (dance current)
  • Zab Maboungou (compagnie danse nyata nyata)
  • Melanie Demers (Mayday Danse)
  • Kevin Ormsby
  • Pulga Muchochoma
  • Charmaine Headley and Eddison B. Lindsay (COBA - Collective of Black Artists)
  • Patrick Parson (Ballet Creole)
  • Shakheil Rollock
  • Esie Mensah (Black Stars)http://www.brooklynfools.com/podcast.html

Zines