Black Historical past Month, celebrated within the month of February in Canada since 1995, is an opportunity for us all to study black historical past. And Black historical past is Canadian historical past.
This 12 months’s theme is February and Eternally: Celebrating Black Historical past right now and on daily basis.
As a careered educator, Black Historical past Month takes me again to my years at Lincoln Alexander College in Pickering Village named after the Honourable Lincoln Alexander. Alexander was a forerunner within the battle for racial equality in Canada. He has a legacy of firsts. He was the primary black Member of Parliament within the Home of Commons, the primary black Federal Minister, the primary black chair of the Employee’s Compensation Board of Ontario and the primary black Lieutenant-Governor of Canada.
“Lynx,” as the varsity got here to be recognized by, was a various college that enriched my life experiences immeasurably, not solely as an educator but in addition personally, as we journeyed collectively to make sure a constructive and inclusive expertise for all our college and college students.
I’m pleased with our newly shaped Fairness, Range and Inclusionary (EDI) Advisory Committee who be sure that our council receives essential recommendation on issues referring to EDI in our group and works on enabling entry to primary companies to everybody, together with our Black, Indigenous, Individuals Of Color group (BIPOC).
I'm a reader and have at all times been. Proper now, I’m studying the Pulitzer Prize successful “Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom” by David W. Blight. Frederick was one of the crucial essential African People of the nineteenth century.
He was a slave. By way of his multitude of trials and tribulations, he later grew to become one of the crucial famous vital writers and orators in American historical past. This guide was a beautiful reward from considered one of my kids who steered that I ought to learn this enduring biography. Frederick’s story has definitely brought on me to pause and replicate concerning the significance of figuring out with the Black historic motion and its relationship to our present American and Canadian society.
Throughout February, it's my hope that we are able to all take a second for us to be taught one thing new about our Black historical past, as a result of it's our historical past, and it's to be embraced and from which we are able to be taught a lot.
John Henderson is the mayor of Cobourg. Attain him at jhenderson@cobourg.ca.