The Canadian Negro: A Historical Assessment, The Problem of Identity: Part II

The Unrecognized Social Stressors of Migration and Reunification in Caribbean Families

“…Blacks are also often faced with dichotomies and contradictions which have direct implications for their mental health. For example, Winks (1971) points out that blacks in Canada have often felt obliged to deemphasize their group identity in order to be treated as Canadians. However, in order to fully exercise their rights, they need to be part of an organization which stresses that identity.…”

Interracial Encounters Between Blacks, Whites, and Aboriginals in the 19th Century in British Columbia

“…I examine the marginalization of early Black settlers in British Columbia informally (in everyday acts of discrimination) in relation to the ongoing colonization of Indigenous people on Indigenous land. I investigate cultural encounters among the racialized groups by pointing out White and Black settlers' use of the Canadian legal system to obtain land at the expense of Indigenous peoples.By looking at archival sources, including British Columbian newspapers' reports from the 1850s, I discuss the silence in Canadian historiography of the presence of Blacks in Canada (Winks, 1969;1972), the history of black slavery until 1833, and subsequent acts of discrimination against Black Canadians in British Columbia and other provinces-and how this challenges or upsets the cozy, self-congratulatory image of Canada as a place of freedom and legal equality for escaped American slaves during the "Underground Railroad" era.In accordance with the AERA theme for 2019, I argue that Black people's displacement and slavery should be considered with the uprooting and colonization of Aboriginal people and their resistance to cultural genocide (Raibmon, 2005;Carson, 2014).Objectives: This study proposes to: (a) examine the displacement and colonization of Aboriginal people on their own land; (b) investigate social and racial encounters between Blacks, Whites and Aboriginals with regard to race, class, gender, and colonization; and 3) examine discrimination against Blacks on the basis of race and settler colonialism.…”

“…By looking at archival sources, including British Columbian newspapers' reports from the 1850s, I discuss the silence in Canadian historiography of the presence of Blacks in Canada (Winks, 1969;1972), the history of black slavery until 1833, and subsequent acts of discrimination against Black Canadians in British Columbia and other provinces-and how this challenges or upsets the cozy, self-congratulatory image of Canada as a place of freedom and legal equality for escaped American slaves during the "Underground Railroad" era.…”