Digital Exhibits
Libraries, archives, museums, and community groups across the region have created digital exhibitions to help preserve and share the stories of Black Canadians. Here are a few recent examples.
Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent
Across the River to Freedom: Early Black History in Sandwich, Ontario
A collaboration between the Essex County Black Historical Research Society and Leddy Library, this website features short documentary films, historical contexts, archival images, classroom activities, and walking tours of historic Sandwich town.
Breaking the Colour Barrier: Wilfred "Boomer" Harding & the Chatham Coloured All-Stars
This website tells the story of the Chatham, Ontario baseball team who became the first Black team to win a provincial Ontario Baseball Amateur Association championship in 1934. This site features oral histories, newspapers, curricular resources, and image galleries. It was a partnership between Leddy Library, the University of Windsor History Department, the Harding Family, the Chatham-Kent Sports Hall of Fame and the Chatham-Kent Black Historical Society.
Telling the Stories of Race and Sports in Canada
This web portal features interviews and information about Windsor-Essex County athletes of colour, an archive of papers presented at the September 2018 Race and Sports in Canada symposium, and a range of documents, images, and resources related to understanding the Canadian experiences in sport in the context of a racialized world. This project was a partnership between the University of Windsor's Department of History, the Leddy Library, the Chatham Kent Black Historical Society and the Essex County Black Historical Research Society.
The North was Our Canaan: Exploring Sandwich Town's Underground Railroad History
The North Was Our Canaan tells the stories of the freedom-seekers who crossed the Detroit River into Sandwich and the abolitionists who made Sandwich the base of their anti-slavery activism through film and contextual essays. This project is a collaboration between the Essex County Black Historical Research Society and the University of Windsor's Leddy Library.
We Were Here: Recovering the Stories of Windsor's McDougall Street Corridor
This digital exhibition showcases the once vibrant McDougall Street Corridor and its rich Black history. Using essays, images, maps, artifacts, and documents, We Were Here demonstrates the devastating impacts of city planning and urban renewal efforts on this historic neighbourhood. Researched and written by Willow Key, We Were Here is a collaboration between the Essex County Black Historical Research Society and the Leddy Library.
Images of Black History, Exploring the Alvin McCurdy Collection.
The Alvin McCurdy Collection is the Archives of Ontario's largest and most important source of information about the history of the black community in Ontario. The Collection includes materials that pre-date the founding of the province in 1791, and extends through the mid-20th century.
Ontario
The Black Canadian Experience in Ontario, 1834-1914: Flight, Freedom, and Foundation
A joint project of the Archives of Ontario and the Ontario Black History Society (OBHS) curated by former OBHS President Rosemary Sadlier, this exhibit presents the dramatic story of a community which has played a significant role in Ontario's history and remains a vital force in Ontario society today.
The Black Press in 19th-century Canada and Beyond
This exhibit explores the decisive role played by Canada's Black Press in the design of cultural and race relations in Canada, and views the study of the Black Press as essential to an understanding of Canada's involvement in transatlantic intellectual activism. The Black Press in 19th-century Canada and Beyond is part of a broader interdiciplinary project - Canada's 19th Century Black Press and Trajectories of Exceptional Communication and Intellectual Activism - funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Daniel G. Hill Collection
A biographical site commemorating Daniel G. Hill. Hill was a historian who wrote about Black Canadian history. In 1962, Hill became the first Director of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and from 1984 to 1989, he served as the third Ombudsman of Ontario.
Enslaved Africans in Upper Canada
This exhibit tells the stories of a small number of individuals and families held in slavery in Ontario. The exhibit has been refreshed in collaboration with the Ontario Black History Society and takes advantage of the passing of time to address outdated language, problematic approaches to Black histories, and the need for additional research to widen the scope of collections included in the exhibit.
Michigan
Black Abolitionist Archive (University of Detroit Mercy Libraries)
From the 1820s to the Civil War, African Americans assumed prominent roles in the transatlantic struggle to abolish slavery. Some 300 black abolitionists were regularly involved in the antislavery movement, heightening its credibility and broadening its agenda. The Black Abolitionist Digital Archive is a collection of over 800 speeches by antebellum blacks and approximately 1,000 editorials from the period. These important documents provide a portrait of black involvement in the anti-slavery movement; scans of these documents are provided as images and PDF files.