In 1922, a 15-year-old girl, fed up with life in a French convent school, answered an ad for a travelling secretary. Tall, blonde, and swaggering with confidence, she might have passed for twenty. She also knew what she wanted: to become the first female to drive around the world. Her name was Aloha Wanderwell.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the launch of It Was Dark There All the Time: Sophia Burthen and the Legacy of Slavery in Canada. Done in partnership with the Workers Arts & Heritage Centre, the event was hosted by Talibah Howard, Youth Program Manager at the Afro-Canadian Caribbean Association, and included readings by the author, Andrew Hunter, and featured guests Reighen Grineage and Chantal Gibson. The event ended with insightful questions from the audience, such as “How do you connect the threads between the abolition of slavery to the broader goal of abolition, which is to eliminate all carceral institutions?” or “Why do you focus on aspects of nature in Sophia’s story?” and “Is Joseph Brant as a slave owner a taboo subject?”
For those who were unable to join us live, or who want to hear Andrew and Talibah dive into the questions above and more, we’d like to share a recording of the event. Enjoy!
We are marking Black History Month by highlighting a collection of books by Black writers and about Black history, including poetry collections by celebrated writers Claire Harris, Kwame Dawes, and George Elliott Clarke, who in addition to writing works of genius, mentored a generation of poets and writers; the paintings and constructions of Mickalene Thomas, whose most recent exhibition opened simultaneously on three continents; and Mark V. Campbell’s deep dive into the photographic archives of Toronto’s Hip Hop Culture, to name but a few.
For twenty years, Jan Wong had been one of the Globe and Mail's best-known reporters. Then one day she turned in a story that set off a firestorm of controversy, including death threats, a unanimous denunciation by Parliament, and a rebuke by her own newspaper. For the first time in her professional life, Wong fell into a severe clinical depression. Yet she resisted the diagnosis, refusing to believe she had a mental illness. As it turned out, so did her company and insurer. Jan Wong wrote about her experience in Out of the Blue.
“Alexa led, not only by blazing her own trail as a female politician, but also by her ongoing efforts to encourage others — women, people of colour, those without privilege — to take their own rightful place in politics and the world. She made room for them.” (Alexa McDonough, Obituary)
