Cambridge students explore Canada’s past for black history month
Liz Monteiro
Published on
Feb 27, 2010
CAMBRIDGE — Students need a holistic approach to Canadian history. They need to know that many peoples made up the country that is Canada today, says a public school principal.
“Students need a full picture of the beauty of this country,” said Dudley Brown.
And that means celebrating black history. On Friday, Brown, with the help of students, organized the second annual black history assembly at the William G. Davis Public School in Cambridge. Students from nearby Ryerson Public School also attended the assembly.
“It’s important to me because I’m a black man but it also shows the rich history of Canada,” Brown said.
Students watched an eight-minute video created by Brown, along with students and colleagues, outlining the history of blacks in Canada from the first black person in Canada — Matthew Da Costa who worked as a surveyor with Samuel de Champlain in New France in 1605 to the first female newspaper editor, Mary Ann Shadd, a black woman born in Delaware in 1823 who came to Canada in the Underground Railroad. She came to the Windsor area and started a school for escaped slaves and a newspaper.
The video also referred to black settlements near Barrie, outside Wellesley Township to contemporary books on blacks such as Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes and Black Ice: The Lost History of the Coloured Hockey League, 1895-1925. Students also read a poem by American poet Maya Angelou.
Music from African tribal dances to today’s hip hop was played. The school choir sang Deep River, a Negro spiritual song, and the school band, along with the Preston Jazz School Band performed jazz pieces.
Brown, part of a five-man band, sang songs from well-known American blues artists including John Lee Hooker, Ray Charles and James Brown to loud applause from the crowd.
Brown, who was vice-principal at Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute, was part of an organizing committee holding annual black history celebrations at the school. There, the school population, which is one of the most diverse in the region, celebrating culture was commonplace.
Brown decided to continue the tradition at William G. Davis where the school population is less diverse.
“This is when it’s needed most ... the school is homogenous and we want to tell them that they live in a global world,” he said. “I’m an educator. I feel it’s my role to go out and let people know this.”
For students, the assembly was entertaining but a learning moment too.
“I never knew they were so many black people that changed the world,” said Grade 7 student Alex Salytcheve.
“Without black people, we wouldn’t be where we are today. We wouldn’t have the first black president,” said Grade 7 student Anetta Ille.
“I thought it was really cool especially the music with Mr. Brown,” said Alex Girdler, 12.
Girdler said the history lesson showed him that so many black people had to suffer and “had it rough” in the United States and Canada because of their skin colour.
“I don’t see how it (skin colour) is any different. They are the same people,” he said.
“As long as you are friends, and you like the person, that’s all the matters,” said Jana Thomas, 12.