Saturday, December 25, 2010
HOLIDAY SEASON
In the next few days many of us will be celebrating Christmas and Kwanzaa. While the celebration of Christmas has evolved over many centuries, the celebration of Kwanzaa is relatively new, 44 years old. The celebration of Christmas has been adapted and shaped by different communities and cultures. The Christmas tree (originally German) which is now an established part of Christmas celebrations was introduced and became popular in the former British Empire (which included Canada and the Caribbean islands) during the reign of Victoria. In 1846 an illustration of the British royal family Victoria, her German husband Albert and their children appeared in the Illustrated London News, standing around a decorated Christmas tree. The fashion caught on not only in Britain and the British Empire but also in the United States of America. In many homes today, a decorated tree is an essential part of the Christmas celebration.
Santa Claus in America, Canada and elsewhere, Father Christmas in Britain and many former British colonies is also an established figure in the celebration of Christmas. However, the jolly, white haired, bearded figure with the hearty laugh is mostly an American invention. Although legends abound from Turkey and various European countries of Saint Nicholas/St Nick, Kris Kringle and Sinterklaas, the modern version was popularised by Coca-Cola in the 1930s to boost sales of their product. Coca-Cola claim in their advertising: “2006 marked the 75th anniversary of the famous Coca-Cola Santa Claus. Starting in 1931, magazine ads for Coca-Cola featured St. Nick as a kind, jolly man in a red suit. Because magazines were so widely viewed, and because this image of Santa appeared for more than three decades, the image of Santa most people have today is largely based on our advertising.”
Since the days of the popularised Coca-Cola image of Santa Claus the celebration of Christmas has become less a religious observance/holiday and more a secular and highly commercial celebration/holiday. Christmas as a secular and commercial celebration is celebrated worldwide even in countries where the main religion is not Christianity.
In the Caribbean islands that were colonized by the British and in Guyana, the Christmas celebrations were at one time patterned after the colonizer but over time we made the celebration uniquely Caribbean with decorations, food and music. Steel pan music as accompaniment to the traditional carols, calypso, reggae and soca versions of those carols and even Caribbean composed songs to celebrate Christmas including the spirited and popular “Drink a rum” by Lord Kitchener and “listen mama I want you to tell Santa Claus” by Nat Hepburn. A Guyanese Christmas is not complete without a pepperpot (made with casareep) breakfast.
Christmas, many centuries old has moved from its supposed roots (many pagan rituals were included) of the celebration of the birth of Christ while Kwanzaa at 44 years old is still true to its roots as a Pan-African seven day celebration which begins on December 26th and goes until January 1st. The creation of Kwanzaa served as a way to reconnect African Americans to African culture and to celebrate family, community and culture. Kwanzaa is a celebration for all Africans regardless of their religion or country of birth. It is a time to celebrate our culture, learn about our history, honour African ancestors and traditions, spend time with family and friends and look to our future as a people.
The Kwanzaa celebration inspired racial pride in African Americans who, like other Africans in the Diaspora had been brainwashed into thinking that European culture was superior. The values articulated in the seven Kwanzaa principles “Nguzo saba” resonate with Africans and the celebration which began with a few people in the USA in 1966 is now an international celebration. In 1998 it was estimated that Kwanzaa was celebrated by 18 million Africans worldwide.
Kiswahili, the most widely spoken African language is used during the celebration of Kwanzaa which comes from "matunda ya kwanza" meaning "first fruits of the harvest.” Decorating the Kwanzaa table is an opportunity to learn some Kiswahili words. There are seven symbols that make up the table setting for a Kwanzaa celebration. The mkeka (mat) is the foundation upon which the other symbols are placed. The kinara (candle holder) holds the mishumaa saba (seven candles). The kikombe cha umoja (unity cup), mazao (fruits and vegetables), muhindi/vibunzi (corn) and zawadi (gifts) are placed on the mkeka. To the greeting/question, “Habari gani?” the answer is the principle of the day.
The Nguzo Saba (seven principles) are Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self- Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity) and Imani (Faith). Each principle is represented by a candle (mshumaa). The colours used during Kwanzaa (red, black and green) are the Pan-African colours chosen by the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey. The red, black and green bendera (flag) is sometimes a part of the Kwanzaa decoration. Black represents the African people; red represents the blood shed in our struggle for freedom and green is the symbol of our future and the richness of the African continent.
The Mishumaa saba (seven candles) used during Kwanzaa are red black and green. The black candle is placed in the centre of the kinara, the three red candles to the left of the black candle and the three green candles to the right. On the first day of Kwanzaa, December 26th, the black candle, representing umoja (unity) is lit. On the second day of Kwanzaa, the first red candle next to the black candle, representing kujichagulia (self-determination) is lit. On the third day of Kwanzaa, the first green candle, next to the black candle, representing ujima (collective work and responsibility) is lit. The candles are lit in this alternating pattern until the last green candle, representing Imani (faith) is lit on the last day of the Kwanzaa celebration January 1st.
Celebrating Kwanzaa encourages making or buying educational African centred zawadi (gifts) for children to practice Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) so that money circulates in the community at least seven times. There are excellent books written for African children about the heroes and sheroes who can serve as inspiration and role models. Mathieu DaCosta by Itah Sadu, The Kids Book of Black Canadian History by Rosemary Sadlier, To Be a Drum by Evelyn Coleman, The Sound that Jazz Makes by Carole Boston Weatherford, In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall by Javaka Steptoe, Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book by Muriel Feelings, The Friendship, Song of the Trees, Mississippi Bridge and The Well by Mildred D. Taylor are all excellent Kwanzaa zawadi for children. The decorations for the Kwanzaa table, including a beautifully carved wooden kinara, mkeka, kikombe cha Umoja and kente cloth can all be found at African Canadian owned stores. The seven principles can be a guide throughout the year and do not have to be relegated to the Kwanzaa celebration from December 26th to January 1st.
An important part of the Kwanzaa celebration is the recognition of those who went before us. We remember those who paved the way for us, those on whose shoulders we stand and we are thankful that they never stopped striving for their freedom. The community is invited to a free Kwanzaa karamu on December 31 to celebrate Kuumba (creativity) at 100 Devonshire Place. If you have not celebrated Kwanzaa, now is a good time to start. Kwanzaa yenu iwe na heri! May your Kwanzaa be happy!! Merry Christmas!!
Santa Claus in America, Canada and elsewhere, Father Christmas in Britain and many former British colonies is also an established figure in the celebration of Christmas. However, the jolly, white haired, bearded figure with the hearty laugh is mostly an American invention. Although legends abound from Turkey and various European countries of Saint Nicholas/St Nick, Kris Kringle and Sinterklaas, the modern version was popularised by Coca-Cola in the 1930s to boost sales of their product. Coca-Cola claim in their advertising: “2006 marked the 75th anniversary of the famous Coca-Cola Santa Claus. Starting in 1931, magazine ads for Coca-Cola featured St. Nick as a kind, jolly man in a red suit. Because magazines were so widely viewed, and because this image of Santa appeared for more than three decades, the image of Santa most people have today is largely based on our advertising.”
Since the days of the popularised Coca-Cola image of Santa Claus the celebration of Christmas has become less a religious observance/holiday and more a secular and highly commercial celebration/holiday. Christmas as a secular and commercial celebration is celebrated worldwide even in countries where the main religion is not Christianity.
In the Caribbean islands that were colonized by the British and in Guyana, the Christmas celebrations were at one time patterned after the colonizer but over time we made the celebration uniquely Caribbean with decorations, food and music. Steel pan music as accompaniment to the traditional carols, calypso, reggae and soca versions of those carols and even Caribbean composed songs to celebrate Christmas including the spirited and popular “Drink a rum” by Lord Kitchener and “listen mama I want you to tell Santa Claus” by Nat Hepburn. A Guyanese Christmas is not complete without a pepperpot (made with casareep) breakfast.
Christmas, many centuries old has moved from its supposed roots (many pagan rituals were included) of the celebration of the birth of Christ while Kwanzaa at 44 years old is still true to its roots as a Pan-African seven day celebration which begins on December 26th and goes until January 1st. The creation of Kwanzaa served as a way to reconnect African Americans to African culture and to celebrate family, community and culture. Kwanzaa is a celebration for all Africans regardless of their religion or country of birth. It is a time to celebrate our culture, learn about our history, honour African ancestors and traditions, spend time with family and friends and look to our future as a people.
The Kwanzaa celebration inspired racial pride in African Americans who, like other Africans in the Diaspora had been brainwashed into thinking that European culture was superior. The values articulated in the seven Kwanzaa principles “Nguzo saba” resonate with Africans and the celebration which began with a few people in the USA in 1966 is now an international celebration. In 1998 it was estimated that Kwanzaa was celebrated by 18 million Africans worldwide.
Kiswahili, the most widely spoken African language is used during the celebration of Kwanzaa which comes from "matunda ya kwanza" meaning "first fruits of the harvest.” Decorating the Kwanzaa table is an opportunity to learn some Kiswahili words. There are seven symbols that make up the table setting for a Kwanzaa celebration. The mkeka (mat) is the foundation upon which the other symbols are placed. The kinara (candle holder) holds the mishumaa saba (seven candles). The kikombe cha umoja (unity cup), mazao (fruits and vegetables), muhindi/vibunzi (corn) and zawadi (gifts) are placed on the mkeka. To the greeting/question, “Habari gani?” the answer is the principle of the day.
The Nguzo Saba (seven principles) are Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self- Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity) and Imani (Faith). Each principle is represented by a candle (mshumaa). The colours used during Kwanzaa (red, black and green) are the Pan-African colours chosen by the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey. The red, black and green bendera (flag) is sometimes a part of the Kwanzaa decoration. Black represents the African people; red represents the blood shed in our struggle for freedom and green is the symbol of our future and the richness of the African continent.
The Mishumaa saba (seven candles) used during Kwanzaa are red black and green. The black candle is placed in the centre of the kinara, the three red candles to the left of the black candle and the three green candles to the right. On the first day of Kwanzaa, December 26th, the black candle, representing umoja (unity) is lit. On the second day of Kwanzaa, the first red candle next to the black candle, representing kujichagulia (self-determination) is lit. On the third day of Kwanzaa, the first green candle, next to the black candle, representing ujima (collective work and responsibility) is lit. The candles are lit in this alternating pattern until the last green candle, representing Imani (faith) is lit on the last day of the Kwanzaa celebration January 1st.
Celebrating Kwanzaa encourages making or buying educational African centred zawadi (gifts) for children to practice Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) so that money circulates in the community at least seven times. There are excellent books written for African children about the heroes and sheroes who can serve as inspiration and role models. Mathieu DaCosta by Itah Sadu, The Kids Book of Black Canadian History by Rosemary Sadlier, To Be a Drum by Evelyn Coleman, The Sound that Jazz Makes by Carole Boston Weatherford, In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall by Javaka Steptoe, Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book by Muriel Feelings, The Friendship, Song of the Trees, Mississippi Bridge and The Well by Mildred D. Taylor are all excellent Kwanzaa zawadi for children. The decorations for the Kwanzaa table, including a beautifully carved wooden kinara, mkeka, kikombe cha Umoja and kente cloth can all be found at African Canadian owned stores. The seven principles can be a guide throughout the year and do not have to be relegated to the Kwanzaa celebration from December 26th to January 1st.
An important part of the Kwanzaa celebration is the recognition of those who went before us. We remember those who paved the way for us, those on whose shoulders we stand and we are thankful that they never stopped striving for their freedom. The community is invited to a free Kwanzaa karamu on December 31 to celebrate Kuumba (creativity) at 100 Devonshire Place. If you have not celebrated Kwanzaa, now is a good time to start. Kwanzaa yenu iwe na heri! May your Kwanzaa be happy!! Merry Christmas!!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
KWANZAA
No part of our legacy is more valuable than the unique ethical teaching of the Odu Ifa, the sacred text of our Yoruba ancestors, that we and all humans are divinely chosen to bring good into the world and that this is the fundamental meaning and mission of human life. As cultural nationalists, we believe that you must rescue and reconstruct African history and culture to revitalize African culture today in America. In the final analysis shared social wealth and work are key to African economic development
Dr. Maulana Karenga
In 1965 Dr. Maulana Karenga and several advocates founded the organization Us. Out of that period when African Americans struggled to gain their civil rights Us “projected a new vision of possibility through service, struggle and institution-building.” In that framework and spirit, they co-founded the Brotherhood Crusade, the Black Congress, Mafundi Institute, the Community Alert Patrol, and the Operational Unity Committee. The organization was involved in planning the Kedren Community Mental Health Center, the Watts Health Foundation and the Ujima Housing Project. They worked with schools and parent groups to establish and maintain quality education and built a youth movement, the Simba Wachanga (The Young Lions) which is a model and inspiration for numerous rites of passage programs. The organization also established and maintains the African American Cultural Center, the Limbiko Tembo Kawaida School of African American Culture (an independent cultural school for children,) the Kawaida Institute of Pan-African Studies (which sponsors an annual seminar in Social Theory & Practice) and the University of Sankore Press.
The group is most famous for the creation of Kwanzaa and the introduction of the Nguzo Saba (Seven Principles.) Kwanzaa, which comes from the Kiswahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza” (first fruits of the harvest,) was created in December 1966. Karenga, professor of Africana Studies at California State University, Long Beach, author and scholar-activist stresses the need to preserve and promote African culture.
Dr Molefi Kete Asante in his 2009 published book Maulana Karenga: An Intellectual Portrait writes: “Maulana Ndabezitha Karenga is an intellectual and political activist who is always at work, writing, speaking, editing teaching and consulting. Maulana Karenga is the preeminent African American cultural theorist and one of the towering figures in the science of social and cultural reconstruction of our era.” In the foreword of the book Dr Ama Mazama associate professor of African American Studies at Temple University writes: “Only five intellectual movements among African Americans in the last century have been fully transformative: Marcus Garvey’s Pan African movement, Martin Luther King’s civil rights movement, Elijah Mohammad’s religious nationalism, Maulana Karenga’s Kawaida and Molefi Kete Asante’s Afrocentricity. These intellectual and activist traditions have been at the forefront of changing the operational, social, religious, legal, or symbolic nature of the African American community.”
Kwanzaa is a celebration of family, community and culture based on African harvest celebrations that urges and encourages Africans in the Diaspora to connect with their cultural and historical roots. Kwanzaa is cultural, practiced by Africans of all religious faiths who come together based on the Pan-African philosophy of the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey. In an interview with Emerge Magazine Karenga said, "As cultural nationalists, we believe that you must rescue and reconstruct African history and culture to revitalize African culture today in America. Kwanzaa became a way of doing just that. I wanted to stress the need for reorientation of values, to borrow the collective life-affirming ones from our past and use them to enrich our present."
The Nguzo Saba (Seven Principles) of Kwanzaa was designed to be a value system for African Americans to attain a national liberation from the cycle of poverty that has dogged Africans in the Diaspora since the abolition of chattel slavery. The Nguzo Saba are Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity) and Imani (faith). Karenga has stressed the importance of culture as a way to unite and overcome oppression and achieve economic freedom for Africans.
Initially celebrated by a few hundred people in the United States, Kwanzaa has spread internationally and celebrated wherever Africans live. The purpose of Kwanzaa, a celebration of family, community and culture has resonated with Africans and by the 1990s Kwanzaa was celebrated by over 18 million Africans in Africa, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe and the United States. Africans in the Diaspora, the descendants of enslaved Africans who for hundreds of years were disconnected from their origins have embraced the opportunity to connect/reconnect with the culture and history of their ancestors.
Kwanzaa was created to be more than a seven day celebration (December 26 – January 1) and lighting of candles. The Nguzo Saba has encompassed every area of the lives of Africans including the education of our future generations. The work of Karenga and other scholars like Dr Molefi Kete Asante led to the establishment of African centred education from elementary schools to post secondary institutions. It is through their work that Africentric elementary schools were developed and African studies were established at universities. They ensured that it was recognized that Africentricity is not Eurocentricity in Black face. Africentricity includes exploring and analyzing the culture and history of African people from the continent and the Diaspora from an Africentric perspective. Asante has described Africentricity as: "literally placing African ideals at the center of any analysis that involves African culture and behavior."
He has also written that: “Afrocentricity stands as both a corrective and a critique. Whenever African people, who collectively suffer the experience of dislocation, are relocated in a centered place, that is, with agency and accountability, we have a corrective. By recentering the African person as an agent, we deny the hegemony of European domination in thought and behavior, and then Afrocentricity becomes a critique. On the one hand, we seek to correct the sense of place of the African, and on the other hand, we make a critique of the process and extent of the dislocation caused by the European cultural, economic, and political domination of Africa and African peoples.”
During the celebration of Kwanzaa it is important that we remember to live the Nguzo Saba everyday. Expressing Ujima (to build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together,) in 1999 Karenga spoke at a seminar about the need for a living wage where he said: “One of the most important struggles for social and economic justice of our times is the expanding and ongoing struggle for a living wage. The struggle is essentially directed towards securing for low-income workers a wage which provides for them with adequate means to support themselves and their families, rise above the poverty level which entraps them and live a life of dignity and decency due every human being.”
Dr. Maulana Karenga
In 1965 Dr. Maulana Karenga and several advocates founded the organization Us. Out of that period when African Americans struggled to gain their civil rights Us “projected a new vision of possibility through service, struggle and institution-building.” In that framework and spirit, they co-founded the Brotherhood Crusade, the Black Congress, Mafundi Institute, the Community Alert Patrol, and the Operational Unity Committee. The organization was involved in planning the Kedren Community Mental Health Center, the Watts Health Foundation and the Ujima Housing Project. They worked with schools and parent groups to establish and maintain quality education and built a youth movement, the Simba Wachanga (The Young Lions) which is a model and inspiration for numerous rites of passage programs. The organization also established and maintains the African American Cultural Center, the Limbiko Tembo Kawaida School of African American Culture (an independent cultural school for children,) the Kawaida Institute of Pan-African Studies (which sponsors an annual seminar in Social Theory & Practice) and the University of Sankore Press.
The group is most famous for the creation of Kwanzaa and the introduction of the Nguzo Saba (Seven Principles.) Kwanzaa, which comes from the Kiswahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza” (first fruits of the harvest,) was created in December 1966. Karenga, professor of Africana Studies at California State University, Long Beach, author and scholar-activist stresses the need to preserve and promote African culture.
Dr Molefi Kete Asante in his 2009 published book Maulana Karenga: An Intellectual Portrait writes: “Maulana Ndabezitha Karenga is an intellectual and political activist who is always at work, writing, speaking, editing teaching and consulting. Maulana Karenga is the preeminent African American cultural theorist and one of the towering figures in the science of social and cultural reconstruction of our era.” In the foreword of the book Dr Ama Mazama associate professor of African American Studies at Temple University writes: “Only five intellectual movements among African Americans in the last century have been fully transformative: Marcus Garvey’s Pan African movement, Martin Luther King’s civil rights movement, Elijah Mohammad’s religious nationalism, Maulana Karenga’s Kawaida and Molefi Kete Asante’s Afrocentricity. These intellectual and activist traditions have been at the forefront of changing the operational, social, religious, legal, or symbolic nature of the African American community.”
Kwanzaa is a celebration of family, community and culture based on African harvest celebrations that urges and encourages Africans in the Diaspora to connect with their cultural and historical roots. Kwanzaa is cultural, practiced by Africans of all religious faiths who come together based on the Pan-African philosophy of the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey. In an interview with Emerge Magazine Karenga said, "As cultural nationalists, we believe that you must rescue and reconstruct African history and culture to revitalize African culture today in America. Kwanzaa became a way of doing just that. I wanted to stress the need for reorientation of values, to borrow the collective life-affirming ones from our past and use them to enrich our present."
The Nguzo Saba (Seven Principles) of Kwanzaa was designed to be a value system for African Americans to attain a national liberation from the cycle of poverty that has dogged Africans in the Diaspora since the abolition of chattel slavery. The Nguzo Saba are Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity) and Imani (faith). Karenga has stressed the importance of culture as a way to unite and overcome oppression and achieve economic freedom for Africans.
Initially celebrated by a few hundred people in the United States, Kwanzaa has spread internationally and celebrated wherever Africans live. The purpose of Kwanzaa, a celebration of family, community and culture has resonated with Africans and by the 1990s Kwanzaa was celebrated by over 18 million Africans in Africa, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe and the United States. Africans in the Diaspora, the descendants of enslaved Africans who for hundreds of years were disconnected from their origins have embraced the opportunity to connect/reconnect with the culture and history of their ancestors.
Kwanzaa was created to be more than a seven day celebration (December 26 – January 1) and lighting of candles. The Nguzo Saba has encompassed every area of the lives of Africans including the education of our future generations. The work of Karenga and other scholars like Dr Molefi Kete Asante led to the establishment of African centred education from elementary schools to post secondary institutions. It is through their work that Africentric elementary schools were developed and African studies were established at universities. They ensured that it was recognized that Africentricity is not Eurocentricity in Black face. Africentricity includes exploring and analyzing the culture and history of African people from the continent and the Diaspora from an Africentric perspective. Asante has described Africentricity as: "literally placing African ideals at the center of any analysis that involves African culture and behavior."
He has also written that: “Afrocentricity stands as both a corrective and a critique. Whenever African people, who collectively suffer the experience of dislocation, are relocated in a centered place, that is, with agency and accountability, we have a corrective. By recentering the African person as an agent, we deny the hegemony of European domination in thought and behavior, and then Afrocentricity becomes a critique. On the one hand, we seek to correct the sense of place of the African, and on the other hand, we make a critique of the process and extent of the dislocation caused by the European cultural, economic, and political domination of Africa and African peoples.”
During the celebration of Kwanzaa it is important that we remember to live the Nguzo Saba everyday. Expressing Ujima (to build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together,) in 1999 Karenga spoke at a seminar about the need for a living wage where he said: “One of the most important struggles for social and economic justice of our times is the expanding and ongoing struggle for a living wage. The struggle is essentially directed towards securing for low-income workers a wage which provides for them with adequate means to support themselves and their families, rise above the poverty level which entraps them and live a life of dignity and decency due every human being.”
Thursday, November 11, 2010
REMEMBRANCE DAY 2010
November 11 has been recognized as Remembrance Day since 1919. The day was specifically dedicated by the British monarch George V, on 7 November 1919, to the memory of members of the armed forces who were killed during World War I.
Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November to recall the official end of World War I on that date in 1918, as the major hostilities of World War I were formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month" of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice.
Although African Canadians and other racialized people were members of Canada's military during the War, there is hardly any mention of their contribution and they are not usually recognized on November 11.
In 1987 Calvin Woodrow Ruck, CM (September 4, 1925–October 19, 2004,) an anti-racism activist and a Canadian senator published The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret. He was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia; his parents were immigrants to Canada from Barbados.
The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret, written by Calvin W. Ruck is available at the Toronto Public Library and at University libraries. Parents, caregivers, teachers and students are encouraged to read this book.
From the onset of World War I African-Canadians began to volunteer to serve their country in the conflict overseas. Many who volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) were turned away at the recruitment offices. In November 25, 1915 Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Fowler, Commanding officer of the 104th Battalion, requested permission to discharge twenty black recruits on the basis of race. He wrote: "I have been fortunate to have secured a very fine class of recruits and I did not think it fair to these men that they should have to mingle with Negroes." This rejection was met with protest in the African-Canadian community.
The Canadian military decided upon a compromise of sorts in which the decision to allow African-Canadian recruits to join was left up to the individual commanding officer. “…most of them were sent to the Western Front. A few Negroes were among these troops, for individual Blacks were permitted to enlist in such local regiments as would accept them ” (as reported by historian Robin Winks). Approximately sixteen black volunteers were accepted into the 106th Battalion Nova Scotia Rifles CEF between December of 1915 and July of 1916. When the Military Service Act was passed on August 29, 1917 volunteers who had previously been turned away were now forced to go to war.
In addition, it was deemed ‘acceptable’ to form an all black battalion lead by white officers that would perform construction duties and other labour rather than armed combat. The first and only black battalion in Canadian history was authorized July 5, 1916. The No. 2 Construction Battalion, CEF, was based out of Pictou, Nova Scotia with recruits from across the country. Many local young men served in this unit as evidenced by the unit role as printed in The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret by Calvin W. Ruck. The Chaplain of the No. 2 Battalion was the only Black commissioned officer in the British Forces in World War I compared to six hundred in the United States. On March 28, 1917 a force of six hundred and five black troops embarked from Pier 2 in Halifax heading to the Western Front. A recruiting station also operated out of the Parker family home in Windsor. Most served in Lajoux, Peronne and Alencon. Following the Armistice of November 11, 1918, the unit returned to Canada, where it was officially disbanded on September 15, 1920. The No. 2 Construction Battalion thus faded away into the dusty annals of Canadian military history. (p21)
Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November to recall the official end of World War I on that date in 1918, as the major hostilities of World War I were formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month" of 1918 with the German signing of the Armistice.
Although African Canadians and other racialized people were members of Canada's military during the War, there is hardly any mention of their contribution and they are not usually recognized on November 11.
In 1987 Calvin Woodrow Ruck, CM (September 4, 1925–October 19, 2004,) an anti-racism activist and a Canadian senator published The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret. He was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia; his parents were immigrants to Canada from Barbados.
The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret, written by Calvin W. Ruck is available at the Toronto Public Library and at University libraries. Parents, caregivers, teachers and students are encouraged to read this book.
From the onset of World War I African-Canadians began to volunteer to serve their country in the conflict overseas. Many who volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) were turned away at the recruitment offices. In November 25, 1915 Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Fowler, Commanding officer of the 104th Battalion, requested permission to discharge twenty black recruits on the basis of race. He wrote: "I have been fortunate to have secured a very fine class of recruits and I did not think it fair to these men that they should have to mingle with Negroes." This rejection was met with protest in the African-Canadian community.
The Canadian military decided upon a compromise of sorts in which the decision to allow African-Canadian recruits to join was left up to the individual commanding officer. “…most of them were sent to the Western Front. A few Negroes were among these troops, for individual Blacks were permitted to enlist in such local regiments as would accept them ” (as reported by historian Robin Winks). Approximately sixteen black volunteers were accepted into the 106th Battalion Nova Scotia Rifles CEF between December of 1915 and July of 1916. When the Military Service Act was passed on August 29, 1917 volunteers who had previously been turned away were now forced to go to war.
In addition, it was deemed ‘acceptable’ to form an all black battalion lead by white officers that would perform construction duties and other labour rather than armed combat. The first and only black battalion in Canadian history was authorized July 5, 1916. The No. 2 Construction Battalion, CEF, was based out of Pictou, Nova Scotia with recruits from across the country. Many local young men served in this unit as evidenced by the unit role as printed in The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret by Calvin W. Ruck. The Chaplain of the No. 2 Battalion was the only Black commissioned officer in the British Forces in World War I compared to six hundred in the United States. On March 28, 1917 a force of six hundred and five black troops embarked from Pier 2 in Halifax heading to the Western Front. A recruiting station also operated out of the Parker family home in Windsor. Most served in Lajoux, Peronne and Alencon. Following the Armistice of November 11, 1918, the unit returned to Canada, where it was officially disbanded on September 15, 1920. The No. 2 Construction Battalion thus faded away into the dusty annals of Canadian military history. (p21)
I'VE GOT A HOME IN GLORY LAND
Dr. Karolyn Smardz Frost will be at the Riverdale Library (370 Broadview Avenue) at 2;00 p.m. on Saturday, November 13, 2010 to talk about her book I've Got A Home In Glory Land.
It was the day before Independence Day, July 3, 1831. As his bride, Lucie, was about to be “sold down the river” to the slave markets of New Orleans, young (19 years old) Thornton Blackburn planned a daring—and successful—daylight escape from Louisville, Kentucky. Three years later after living as free people, they were discovered by slave catchers in Michigan and slated to return to Kentucky in chains, until the African Anerican community rallied to their cause.
The Blackburn Riot of 1833 was the first racial uprising in Detroit history. The couple was spirited across the river to Canada, but their safety proved illusory. In June 1833, Michigan’s governor demanded their extradition. The Blackburn case was the first serious legal dispute between Canada and the United States regarding the Underground Railroad. The impassioned defense of the Blackburns by Canada’s lieutenant governor set precedents for all future fugitive-slave cases.
The Blackburns settled in Toronto and founded the city’s first taxi business but they never forgot the millions who still suffered in slavery. Working with prominent abolitionists, Thornton and Lucie made their home a haven for enslaved Africans who escaped slavery. Thornton Blackburn transitioned to join the ancestors in 1890 and his beloved Lucie followed in 1895. The fascinating story of their lives was lost to history until a chance archaeological discovery in a downtown Toronto school yard brought the story of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn again to light Karolyn Smardz Frost.
Karolyn Smardz Frost is a Toronto-born archaeologist and historian whose 1985 excavation of the Thornton and Lucie Blackburn site made history. I’ve Got a Home in Gloryland is the result of more than twenty years of historical detective work into this enslaved African couple’s dramatic escape to Canada via the Underground Railroad. She is internationally recognized for her work in multiculturalism and anti-racist education through public archaeology and history. In 1985, Karolyn Smardz Frost founded the Toronto Board of Education’s Archaeological Resource Centre where, over a 10 year period, more than 100,000 schoolchildren and members of the public helped uncover and preserve their own city’s past.
The 1985 pilot project was the excavation of the home of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn, fugitive enslaved Africans who have been designated Persons of National Historic Significance in Canada and of state historic significance in Kentucky based on her research. Karolyn Smardz Frost has been a guest lecturer at the University of Newcastle-on-Tyne, U.K., a UNESCO lecturer at Robben Island, Cape Town, SA, and between 1995 and 1998 was Manager of Public Programming for the Institute for Minnesota Archaeology.
A former Vice-Chair of the Toronto Historical Board, Karolyn Smardz Frost was for several years Canada’s representative to the World Archaeological Congress. She has been Recording Secretary of the Ontario Historical Society, and a founding member of the education committees of both the Society for American Archaeology and the Society for Historical Archaeology. She is a board member of the Commemorative Committee on the Bicentennial of the Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade; the Tubman Institute for the Global Migrations of African Peoples; and the Promised Land History and Education Project (Chatham, Ontario).
The author of numerous articles, Karolyn Smardz Frost co-edited the first textbook on educational archaeology, The Archaeology Education Handbook: Sharing the Past With Kids (2000). With historians Adrienne Shadd and Afua Cooper, she wrote The Underground Railroad: Next Stop, Toronto! (2002), and has conducted research for exhibits for Parks Canada and the Ontario Heritage Trust, as well as the documentary, Freedom’s Land for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Karolyn Smardz Frost’s critically acclaimed book, I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land: a Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad (Farrar, Straus and Giroux of New York & Thomas Allen Books of Toronto 2007) is the first entirely original fugitive slave biography since the 19th century. She is currently engaged in two projects: Voices from a Promised Land? African Americans in Antebellum Canada and Dear Mistress: Letters from a Kentucky Runaway. She was also guest editor of the Spring 2007 edition of Ontario History in honour of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade.
It was the day before Independence Day, July 3, 1831. As his bride, Lucie, was about to be “sold down the river” to the slave markets of New Orleans, young (19 years old) Thornton Blackburn planned a daring—and successful—daylight escape from Louisville, Kentucky. Three years later after living as free people, they were discovered by slave catchers in Michigan and slated to return to Kentucky in chains, until the African Anerican community rallied to their cause.
The Blackburn Riot of 1833 was the first racial uprising in Detroit history. The couple was spirited across the river to Canada, but their safety proved illusory. In June 1833, Michigan’s governor demanded their extradition. The Blackburn case was the first serious legal dispute between Canada and the United States regarding the Underground Railroad. The impassioned defense of the Blackburns by Canada’s lieutenant governor set precedents for all future fugitive-slave cases.
The Blackburns settled in Toronto and founded the city’s first taxi business but they never forgot the millions who still suffered in slavery. Working with prominent abolitionists, Thornton and Lucie made their home a haven for enslaved Africans who escaped slavery. Thornton Blackburn transitioned to join the ancestors in 1890 and his beloved Lucie followed in 1895. The fascinating story of their lives was lost to history until a chance archaeological discovery in a downtown Toronto school yard brought the story of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn again to light Karolyn Smardz Frost.
Karolyn Smardz Frost is a Toronto-born archaeologist and historian whose 1985 excavation of the Thornton and Lucie Blackburn site made history. I’ve Got a Home in Gloryland is the result of more than twenty years of historical detective work into this enslaved African couple’s dramatic escape to Canada via the Underground Railroad. She is internationally recognized for her work in multiculturalism and anti-racist education through public archaeology and history. In 1985, Karolyn Smardz Frost founded the Toronto Board of Education’s Archaeological Resource Centre where, over a 10 year period, more than 100,000 schoolchildren and members of the public helped uncover and preserve their own city’s past.
The 1985 pilot project was the excavation of the home of Thornton and Lucie Blackburn, fugitive enslaved Africans who have been designated Persons of National Historic Significance in Canada and of state historic significance in Kentucky based on her research. Karolyn Smardz Frost has been a guest lecturer at the University of Newcastle-on-Tyne, U.K., a UNESCO lecturer at Robben Island, Cape Town, SA, and between 1995 and 1998 was Manager of Public Programming for the Institute for Minnesota Archaeology.
A former Vice-Chair of the Toronto Historical Board, Karolyn Smardz Frost was for several years Canada’s representative to the World Archaeological Congress. She has been Recording Secretary of the Ontario Historical Society, and a founding member of the education committees of both the Society for American Archaeology and the Society for Historical Archaeology. She is a board member of the Commemorative Committee on the Bicentennial of the Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade; the Tubman Institute for the Global Migrations of African Peoples; and the Promised Land History and Education Project (Chatham, Ontario).
The author of numerous articles, Karolyn Smardz Frost co-edited the first textbook on educational archaeology, The Archaeology Education Handbook: Sharing the Past With Kids (2000). With historians Adrienne Shadd and Afua Cooper, she wrote The Underground Railroad: Next Stop, Toronto! (2002), and has conducted research for exhibits for Parks Canada and the Ontario Heritage Trust, as well as the documentary, Freedom’s Land for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Karolyn Smardz Frost’s critically acclaimed book, I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land: a Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad (Farrar, Straus and Giroux of New York & Thomas Allen Books of Toronto 2007) is the first entirely original fugitive slave biography since the 19th century. She is currently engaged in two projects: Voices from a Promised Land? African Americans in Antebellum Canada and Dear Mistress: Letters from a Kentucky Runaway. She was also guest editor of the Spring 2007 edition of Ontario History in honour of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade.
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