8 must-read Canadian nonfiction works for Black History Month

These eightworks of nonfiction provide historical, social and political context on the Black Canadian experience.

Blankby M.NourbeSe Philip

Blankis a collection of writer and author NourbeSePhilip's previously out-of-print essays and new works. The book explores questions of race, cultural appropriation, America under the Trump administration and how we define multiculturalismin Canada.

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In the Black byB. Denham Jolly

In the Blackdocuments the overt racism and discrimination that author, activist and entrepreneurB. Denham Jolly endured while establishing a successful business in1950sToronto.Those experiences led Jolly to engage in social activism and to foundthe first Black-owned FM radio station in the city, Flow 93.5.Jolly won the 2017 Toronto Book Awardfor the memoir.

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Canada in Africaby Yves Engler

Yves Englertakes a well-researched historical look atCanadian involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. The work presents the argument that Canadian foreign policies as they have related to the African continent have historically translated into economic upheaval, violence and poverty.

The Hanging Of Angelique by Afua Cooper

Theprofessor of sociology at Dalhousie University in Halifaxtells the story of Marie-JosephAnglique, a slave woman convicted of starting a fire that destroyed a large part of Montral in the 1700s.The work challenges the idea of a slavery-free Canada by way of documenting cases oflegally and culturally endorsed slavery in the country.

North of the Color Line by Sarah-Jane Mathieu

Sarah-Jane Mathieu highlights the underreported history of life in Canada for the estimated 5,000 Blacks, both African Americans and West Indians, who immigrated to Canada after the end of Reconstruction in the United States.Mathieu examines factors such as social, political, labour and immigration through the lens ofthe experiences of Black railway workers and their union, the Order of Sleeping Car Porters.

Queer Returns by Rinaldo Walcott

RinaldoWalcotttakes a look atcategories of "queer and Black" and "Black queer" through the lens of multiculturalism and Canadian identity. The essay collection reflects on how capitalism, colonialism and sexual identity intersect and shape culture, politics and Black expression.

Policing Black Lives by Robyn Maynard

Montreal-based author and activist Robyn Maynard'sPolicing Black Livestraces the underreported modern and historical realities of anti-Blackness within a Canadian context. Maynardexamines the fact that slavery occurred inCanada for more than 200 years andthat enslaved Indigenous and Black individuals were responsible for developing infrastructure for white Canadian settlers in the 17th and 18th centuries and how that legacy has defined institutionalizedracism today.

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Viola Desmond's Canada by Graham Reynolds

The story of Viola Desmond, the nextface of Canada's $10 bill, is told in this comprehensive work by academic Graham Reynolds. Desmond, the civil rights pioneer from Nova Scotia,was jailed in 1946 for sitting in the whites-only section of a New Glasgow, N.S., movie theatre. The book highlights this act of resistance by way of an contextual overview ofthe Black experience in Canada, from slavery under French and British rule in the eighteenth century to the practice of racial segregation and the fight for racial equality in the twentieth century.

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