Black Canadian History Month?

The other night I was talking to my precocious 10-year old nephew about Black History Month. We were trying to out do each other concerning who knew more about the achievement of black Americans. I think I won, by one question. He didn't know who Thurgood Marshall was, but I have to say it was a hollow victory considering the huge gap in our age and education. It was encouraging to talk to him about all the advancements and contributions that our people have made to this country, persevering through such adverse circumstances. An amazing example of the triumph of the human spirit over adversity.

Sometimes it's easy for me to think that the struggles of black people were limited to the United States, because that's the way it was taught to me in my history classes growing up. However, this morning I was reading an interesting article about the struggle of the black people in Canada and how they were celebrating black history month as well.

For some reason it never occurred to me that while many slaves were escaping the south to seek freedom in the north of the country, quite a few of them also crossed the border into Canada in hopes of completely escaping the racial prejudices and injustices that were common practice in the United States. Although these were not the only black people to settle in Canada, many blacks who went to Canada seeking freedom quickly found that this wasn't the case. Although not similar to the American south during the time, there was still racism and discrimination because of the native Canadian perception of black people.

There was actually a point when the prime minister of Canada baned any negro person from immigrating. Although this only lasted a year it was symptomatic of the treatment of black people in the country. I started reading about the migratory history of black people into Canada which was fascinating. I also learned about the tension between those of direct African descent and those of Caribbean ancestry.

I decided to take a look at the famous Black Canadians after reading this article and was surprised at what I found. It's weird, but I started feeling a strange kinship with my Canadian brothers and sisters that I never had before.

I decided to devote this blactoid to them. As always have a good day and enjoy.

Blactoid (Canadian Edition): Josiah Henson was a slave born in Maryland who later fled to Ontario, Canada, a refuge for fugitive slaves. As a young boy he was whipped by his father for standing up to a slave owner. Later he was sold away from his family in an estate sale, although was later bought back by the same owner. He saved up $350 over the years in order to buy back his freedom only to find out that that price had been raised to $1000. With little hope of reaching that goal and with the threat of being sold again he fled to Canada in 1830. He founded a settlement and school for fugitive slaves in Dawn, Canada West. He bought a 200-acre piece of land on which to start his settlement and they were quite prosperous for many years.

After working as a farmer he eventual returned to the states as a Methodist preacher and abolitionist, preaching from Ontario down to Tennessee.

Blactoids are Black....I mean Back!

For those of you eagerly awaiting the return of the blactoid, wait no more. I'm here to share those funny insights as only I can. Each year during the month of February as all the rest of the country celebrates black history, I like to make a contribution as well, that both informs and entertains.

Well I was volunteering for a game night at a local private school a few weeks ago. It was for grades K-3 so most of the kids were under the age of 8. The kids were going around to the different game stations. For some reason the same kids mostly girls kept coming over to my table, I'd like to think it was my winning personality but I'm sure it was the games and the prizes they were winning. One little girl (probably aged 6) was just standing beside me for a long time watching the game. So in a lull between games I asked her what she was learning about in school. She said they were learning about black heroes and Martin Luther King, Jr. and that we had MLK day on January 18. I said yes that's true.

Then I asked her what did Martin Luther do. She said that ...

Rosa parks wanted to sit on the bus, but they wouldn't let her so Martin Luther King started boycotting because there wasn't any freedom. Then because he had a dream that everyone could be treated the same and be free he helped everyone. Now we have freedom all over the world.

She looked to me and said was that right? I said pretty much. I figured I was giving her freedom for poetic license.

I remember when I was a kid and I attended schools where more often that not I was the only ethnic minority in class, so it went without saying I was the only black kid. Whenever we got to black history month everyone in the class would turn their heads and look at me. Like I represented all the black people on earth. I am pretty dark, but still.

I remember reading the glossed over versions of American history in our textbooks and trying to figure out how in the world they got that out of what I already knew to be the truth. I later realized the importance of age appropriate material and understanding truth in stages, but it didn't help at the time.

Blactoid: The movie Song of the South has been a controversial film since it's release on November 2, 1946. However, because most people haven't seen the movie few know exactly why it's considered controversial. A few reasons are because it downplays race relations in the south during the reconstruction era, portraying slavery in a favorable light. It has also been said that the main character Remus is too "Uncle Tom-ish". I could of course go on, but that's enough for now.

Although the movie did receive some positive reviews on it's release it wasn't generally well received throughout the county. I think most importantly, the movie is meant for young children who take things literally so it can pose severe problems which is why it has only ever had limited release and is not available on home video.