Black Community Archives

Ian Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada, announced during his speech in Ottawa, for Reconciliation Day celebrations, February 12, 2005 at Library and Archives Canada, the research contract with Professor David Divine, the James R. Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies, the Black Community Archive Initiative.

The work will include the following:
       - Conduct a survey of the Black Community holdings of the Library and Archives Canada
       - Conduct a survey of the Black Community holdings of other heritage and cultural
                   institutions in Canada.
       - Provide a descriptive summary of the fonds or collections. These descriptions will be
                   compiled to create a guide (on-line and published).
       - Survey the state of potential materials in Canada, in general, of future archival interest,
                   i.e., the history of settlement throughout Canada, significant events, movements
                   of communities, etc.
       - Identify potential specific communities and/or individuals who may hold archival
                   materials of future interest to Library and Archives Canada.

The work will be of national significance.

Under a Northern Star: The history of Canadian Black communities Web exhibit

Writer and adviser to the Library and Archives Canada major initiative on memorialising the Black Canadian experience, titled, ‘Under a Northern Star’.
An exploration of the struggle for civil liberties in Canada through the fonds of the Library and Archives Canada.
The web-site will present the writings, opinions, viewpoints “in the first person” of the supporters and opponents in the debates leading to abolition of slavery in Canada. Using an interactive technology, it is anticipated that visitors to the site will have the opportunity to give their voice and opinion on the debates.

Preparation and writing of content for a National Interactive Web-Site (November 2006-07)
Interactive Web-Site and Related Publication 2007 ( Principal investigator).

Promised Land: The Freedom Experience of Blacks in the Chatham and Dawn Settlements

Co-Applicant with Dr. De B’béri (University of Ottawa), Gwen Robinson (Chatham-Kent Black Historical Society), Marie Carter (Dresden Community Development Association).
The Promised Land project attempts to explore and further record the lost narratives of Black people in a number of identified settlements spanning from 1775 to the present.

Preliminary investigation and writing of detailed application (November 2006-February 2007)

Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada (Community University research alliance) CURA application for continued investigation (February 2007)

Living Past and Present: Slavery, Memory, Citizenship

Co-Applicant with Paul Lovejoy, Canada Research Chair in African Diasporic History, at York University (Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada, November 2006).

Project Results
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