Black History Month

OISE Library is celebrating Black History Month.

Stop by the glass display case in the OISE Lobby to check out the Black History Month display. The display brings together many publications that focus on Black History in Canada.

Several displayed publications were written by OISE faculty. Rinaldo Walcott, Associate Professor in the Department of Social Justice Education, wrote Black Like Who? Writing Black Canada, an important study of Black culture in Canada. First published in 1997, this book looks at how Black Canadians have shaped and defined Canada.

Also on display is Teaching Africa: Towards a Transgressive Pedagogy, written by George J. Sefa Dei, a Professor in Social Justice Education, OISE. This book uses an anti-colonial discursive pedagogy and explores themes of resistance and subjective politics. In The Politics of Cultural Knowledge, editors, Njoki Wane, Professor, in Social Justice Education, OISE, and Arlo Kempf, Assistant Professor, in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, OISE, have brought together important essays.

The display also includes publications that focus on the histories of Black Canadians living in different parts of Canada, including The Road to Now: A History of Blacks in Montreal by Dorothy W. Williams, and No Burden to Carry: Narratives of Black Working Women in Ontario, 1920s-1950s, by author and OISE alumna, Dionne Brand.

Black Women in Canada: Past and Present, offers a collection of biographies and teaching resources. Publications intended for a younger readership, such as The Kids Book of Black Canadian History and I Came as a Stranger: The Underground Railroad, will be enjoyed by anyone interested in the stories of Black Canadians throughout Canada’s history and present times.

The books on display were selected from the OISE Library’s Special collections: Women’s Education Resources Collection, Children’s Literature Collection, Ontario Historical Education Collection, and Curriculum Resource Collection.