NorQuest College Black History Month

"This guide asks students to examine issues of identity, equality, community, and nation-building in both a historical and contemporary context."

This paper explores how the query "Where are you from" is central to processes of racialization in Canada, and how such encounters shape identities and belonging among second-generation African-Canadians. The study is based on qualitative interviews with young men and women whose parents migrated from countries in sub-Saharan Africa, who are racialized as Black, and who grew up in metro Vancouver. Although the second-generation embodies the usual markings of local accents and place-based knowledge, other residents frequently question their origins in the belief they cannot be local. These interactions make it clear that the presence of a Black body is seen as out of place rather than at home and shapes negotiation of identities as Canadian, African and Black.

This essay discusses "The Black Canadian," an article written by Britton B. Cooke and published in "MacLean's Magazine" in November 1911. The authors explore how the text fits within the larger story of immigration to Alberta, what discourses it enables and constrains, and what representations are brought to the surface within the article. In addition, the authors develop their analysis beyond the specific magazine text to an understanding of the intertextual nature of the piece.

here have been virtually no recent census-based studies on the familial characteristics of Black Canadians. The present study is a partial replication and extension of a study on Black families published two decades ago by Christensen and Weinfeld (1993) and based on the 1986 Canadian census. The present paper utilizes the 2006 census in order to examine the current conditions of Black families in Canada and assess what has changed since 1986 in the composition, marital status, and income of these families. Findings indicate that Black families are more culturally heterogeneous than ever. Despite this, racial disparities in family formation and household income have only accentuated since 1986, bearing unique consequences for native and foreign-born Black men and women. On the whole, relatively more black Canadians 25-44 years of age were single and never married, divorced, or separated in 2006 than in 1986. Between 1986 and 2006, the disparities in income between Black families with young children and the general population have grown larger, both for single and dual parent families. The consequences of higher family instability, lone-parent families, economic insecurity and poverty for Black families can only be detrimental for the welfare of children, particularly in a context of racial inequality. These issues deserve to be further investigated.

In an article previously published in Canadian Ethnic Studies, Lebrun and LaVeist (2013) analyzed pooled data from four cycles of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) to find that nativeborn Black Canadians tend to report comparable or better health outcomes than native-born White Canadians. We suggest that several problematical modelling decisions led to a misrepresentation of Black-White health inequalities among native-born Canadians. Attending to these issues in an expanded dataset comprised of eight cycles of the CCHS, we find that, in comparison with nativeborn White Canadians, native-born Black Canadians are less likely to report being a current or former smoker but more likely to be overweight or obese and to report fair or poor self-rated health, hypertension and diabetes. We do not find statistically significant differences between native-born Black and White Canadians in self-reported asthma, heart disease and cancer. We also find that socioeconomic status plays a role in explaining Black-White inequalities in self-rated health and diabetes in particular. In summary, our analysis indicates that, prior to controlling for potential explanatory factors, native-born Black Canadians tend to report comparable or worse health outcomes than native-born White Canadians.

This article analyzes perspectives and strategies through which Black African immigrant youth in Calgary, Alberta, promote their social inclusion in Canadian society. Most of the literature on Blacks and other visible minority youth in Canada focuses on challenges of integration, which have been identified in terms of exclusion from and within the educational systems, labour market, racial profiling, and so on. However, there is little research on the youth from these communities in general, and their agency and strategies of social inclusion in Canadian society. This article fills this gap by stressing the agency and resilience among Black African youth in Calgary, a city that is arguably becoming increasingly diverse with the influx of immigrants from different countries and other Canadian provinces. Drawing on qualitative research methods (40 interviews—20 females and 20 males) with Ghanaian and Sudanese immigrant youths, this article incorporates meaningful insights from Black African immigrant youths on the drivers and strategies of social inclusion. The analysis is grounded in critical race theory (CRT). Overall, the findings emphasize that Black African immigrant youths’ sense and strategies of inclusion are rooted in their ethnic group and religious associations. Specifically, participants identified 1) spaces of safety, 2) empowerment initiatives, and 3) support through social networks that made their sense of inclusion meaningful. The article contributes a new perspective to understanding how Black African immigrant youth capitalize on their community’s knowledge to foster cultural productivity and enhance inclusion in Canadian society.

Abstract: 'Should I wear my Afro to my predominantly white workplace?' is one of the many questions Black Canadian women ask themselves due to the persisting anti-Black racist ideals that impede their livelihoods. This paper expands on Althea Prince's foundational book The Politics of Black Women's Hair (2009) by continuing discussions held with Black and mixed raced Canadian women about the societal perceptions of Black hair. The discriminatory practices demonstrated though case studies involving respectability politics in the workforce contradict Canadian values of multiculturalism. By highlighting Canadian contributions to the Natural Hair Movement, this paper identifies Black women's self-led initiatives that challenge negative ideas surrounding their hair while encouraging Black women to claim space and exercise their right to be. Their complex views thus force a reconsideration of Canadian notions of Black presence. The Black women studied articulate this reassessment according to their own terms while concretizing their positions as valued Canadian citizens.

in a 2007 article, David Chariandy explores why second-generation Black Canadians self-reported not feeling attached to the identity of 'Canadian,' specifically through the viewpoint of Black Canadian writers and how their lived experiences influenced the stories they tell.

Abstract: An advertisement for a “Negro man and boy” and “a variety of other articles too tedious to mention” for disposal” inspired this author to examine the “truly impossible, futile position for most Black parents” in eighteenth and nineteenth century Canada. This article first examines how slaves were sold in a similar manner on both sides of the border by addressing the “many meanings of the border” to those involved with Black migration in Canada. It then then examines a history of public schooling violence and legal case studies to evaluate the realities of those who faced “de facto practices of racial discrimination” when seeking an emancipated education for Black families. By centering the realities evident in advertisements for slaves and public-school violence, I consider how Canadians were involved in the British Atlantic world slave trade and contributed to “an ongoing global project of subjugation and dispersal of African and African-descended peoples” by focusing on how racial public-school segregation responded to large-scale arrivals of Black free and enslaved peoples in the late eighteenth and early to mid nineteenth centuries.

Abstract: This article examines the movement and resettlement in a new locality that leads to a new and unique form of political consciousness central to discussions among African women in the Black Canadian diaspora. Both economically and politically speaking, the diaspora has an important role to play in the contemporary social process which works increasingly on a global scale and any discussion which reflects the realities of the people of the diaspora must take into account the identities changing and dynamic and complex geographies that overlap.

Abstract:
Objectives: To document inequalities in hypertension, self-rated health, and self-rated mental health between Canadian adults who identify as Black, White, or Black and White and determine whether differences in educational attainment and household income explain them.
Design: The dataset was comprised of ten cycles (2001-2013) of the Canadian Community Health Survey. The health inequalities were examined by way of binary logistic regression modeling of hypertension and multinomial logistic regression modeling of self-rated health and self-rated mental health. Educational attainment and household income were investigated as potentially mediating factors using nested models and the Karlson-Holm-Breen decomposition technique.
Results: Black respondents were significantly more likely than White respondents to report hypertension, a disparity that was partly attributable to differences in income. White respondents reported the best and Black respondents reported the worst overall self-rated health, a disparity that was entirely attributable to income differences. Respondents who identified as both Black and White were significantly more likely than White respondents to report fair or poor mental health, a disparity that was partly attributable to income differences. After controlling for income, Black respondents were significantly less likely than White respondents to report fair or poor mental health. Educational attainment did not contribute to explaining any of these associations.
Conclusion: Canadians who identify as both Black and White fall between Black Canadians and White Canadians in regards to self-rated overall health, report the worst self-rated mental health of the three populations, and, with White Canadians, are the least likely to report hypertension. These heterogeneous findings are indicative of a range of diverse processes operative in the production of Black-White health inequalities in Canada.

Abstract: While the provision of Black history education has been taking place within the African-Canadian community, it also is taught to varying degrees at various points in the K-12 curriculum. What are some of the main points connected to Black history in Canada? What affects our ability as educators to teach this material? Is it more the way that this topic is addressed - how do we value non-traditional stories? Do we have a greater need to challenge our own levels of awareness?

Abstract: Enumerators' schedules from the 1861 census for Canada West provide evidence that contradicts the popular view of the fugitive slave as the central figure of nineteenth-century Black history in the province. The census suggests that historians have exaggerated the size of the Black population, significantly overstated the proportion who were fugitives from slavery, underestimated the degree to which Blacks were dispersed throughout the province, and misrepresented the extent of return migration. By 1861 Blacks had made their way to all corners of Canada West and had become an integral part of the provincial economy. More than half were from the United States, but contrary to popular opinion they were mainly free Blacks, not runaway slaves. While they experienced persistent discrimination in Canada, most chose to remain when the Civil War ended.

Abstract: This article adds to the growing literature on the Black education experience in Canada - a subject that has not been a priority in mainstream Canadian education. The author shares a significant part of the results of a study that investigated, documented and analysed the experiences of academically successful Black students in Alberta's secondary schools. Drawing from the experiences of these students, the article highlights the issue of systemic racism in Canadian society as a significant barrier that stands in the way of Black academic achievement. The article also shows how Black students cope with racism and the impact of racism on Black student academic achievement. It argues that if we are to address the chronic underachievement of Black students, the issue of racism must be tackled aggressively by educational institutions and school administrators. For too long, educators have greatly underestimated the effects of racism on Black youths in Western multiethnic societies like Canada.

Abstract: The article examines the history of Black immigration in Canada, focusing upon how this history has affected the Black community in the country. Four phases of Black immigration are discussed, including a late 1700s influx of free Blacks from the U.S. and the arrival of peoples from the French and English Caribbean from the 1960s to the 1990s. Additional topics discussed include an examination of racism in Canada and a history of Canada's immigration policies, including Order-in-Council PC 1911-1324, which aimed to ban Black persons from entering Canada.

Abstract: "Too little consideration has been given to conceptualizing race within mainstream criminological scholarship. One consequence of this oversight is the existence of a stale debate over the causes of racial disparities in crime and criminal justice outcomes. This article draws upon intersectionality to present an historical analysis of the policing of African Americans. The article argues that the concept of dehumanization helps explain the structural inequalities that produce crime within African American communities and the presence of racism within law enforcement agencies. The discipline may advance research in this area by adopting a constructionist racialization framework."