“STUDENTS NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS A LEGACY IN REGARDS TO THE ENSLAVEMENT OF AFRICANS, THE TREATMENT OF BLACKS IN NORTH AMERICA AND THE LAWS AND PRACTICES FROM THE JIM CROW ERA, INCLUDING HERE IN CANADA. THE ISSUES THAT BLACK PEOPLE FACE TODAY ARE LINKED TO THE HISTORY OF INDIVIDUAL, SYSTEMIC AND INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM.”
continues today. A specific activity I did with my students was using historical informa- tion on Africville, N.S. to explore the ideas presented in the novel Last Days of Africville, a story of Africville seen through the eyes of one young girl.
LB: How does writing and doing research on Black history fit into your teaching practice?
educators, we talk about culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy and students seeing themselves in the curriculum. I feel it helped bring a sense of cultural relevancy to the stu- dents at the time.
LB: Do you integrate Black history into all aspects of the curriculum or just Social Studies?
NH: In the past, I’ve made connections with students in science introducing students to inventors or scientists who are Black. I’ve also introduced Black novelists in Language Arts to broaden the scope of how Blacks are represented. For History and Geography, you can make connections with immigration and the movement of Blacks into Canada, which
NH: It fits into my teaching practice in many ways. First, it enhances my ability to diver- sify the presentation of the curriculum and enables me to deliver a more culturally re- sponsive program. It also makes me more cognizant of the omissions and gaps in con- tent. Incorporating the experiences of Blacks into my teaching helps my students develop critical thinking skills. Many questions arise when they encounter some of the informa- tion for the first time and they become en- gaged in finding out the answers. Another way it fits is in doing my part in implement- ing the government-mandated equity agen- da. We can’t talk about equity and social justice without looking at and gaining an in- depth understanding of Black experience in Canada, without including these stories.
LB: What specific ideas and themes do you explore with your students?
NH: One theme I often bring in is that of Black contributions to the field of science, for example Black inventors, to bring a dif- ferent perspective. However, even when there may not be specific ideas or themes, we need to present and help our students to see the content through as many different voices as possible, to represent the experiences and
cultures of our students, and the contribu- tions of all Canadians. Specifically related to African Canadian
history, the critical idea is the inclusion of the Black experience in all its diversity. The history of Blacks in Canada is by no means homogeneous. There were free Blacks, those who were enslaved, refugees and immigrants, Black children and Black adults, male and female. Blacks worked in a range of occupa- tions and owned all kinds of business. In a general sense, it’s being conscious of whose stories are told, whose voices we’re silencing, and ensuring everyone is heard.
LB: How do you connect Black history with what is happening around us today – social movements like Black Lives Matter?
NH: Students need to understand that there is a legacy in regards to the enslavement of Africans, the treatment of Blacks in North America and the laws and practices from the Jim Crow era, including here in Canada. The issues that Black people face today are linked to the history of individual, systemic and in- stitutionalized racism. There was a point in time when African people were not consid- ered to be fully human, bought and sold as property, and treated as second-class citizens. What we see happening today is rooted in that history of anti-Black racism and we do an injustice to our students if we try to ig- nore it, to sweep it under the rug. We need to strive to find age-appropriate ways to make these connections because students do have questions and emotional responses to these issues that are covered in the media. When connections can be made to history, the un-
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