History, Language and Perspective

On this final day of Black History Month (in Canada and the USA at least), I bring you this image from a historically significant burial ground in the Niagara region of Ontario.

This is part of The Urban Guide’s BHX game series for Black History Month.
You can read more about the burial ground here.

History

Black history is more than slavery (although slavery is a large part over a few centuries). The BHX games start at the “end station” of The Underground Railroad and take us north to Toronto. In the many points on these games you will discover histories you may not have known, such as:
– how Black people fought in the Coloured Corps
– how the Act Against Slavery in 1793 means that there were enslaved Black people in Canada (contrary to popular narrative that we just saved them from slavery in the USA).

In fact that Act didn’t free slaves – it prevented new people from becoming enslaved, and granted freedom to the children of existing enslaved people when they turned 25. But for the many that were already enslaved, they were not granted their freedom.
Hmmm… I suppose the thought of losing that much unpaid labour was unimaginable….even in the face of social justice and human decency.

Language

How about language.
“Negro” is one of the words that were used in the past to identify people who are Black. In Spanish, it actually means black. And centuries after Blumenbach categorized people by skull size and shape and named them by geography someone changed the geographical category for those skulls found in the region of Ethiopia, to “black” – effectively reducing a whole people to a colour. Dehumanization and the trans Atlantic slave trade ensued.
We don’t use “Negro” anymore – but what we use often depends on geography: African American is much more common than African Canadian, and Black is more common in Canada.

Perspective

History is usually widely presented through the lens of oppression (due to power controling the narrative). This is seen in both the perspectives shared and the words used.

I wonder about the word “tolerance” on this plaque.
We have some so far in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (EDIB) work that tolerance has become a bad word. People don’t just want to be tolerated – we are asking for respect, acceptance, place, belonging.
And…tolerance used to be a “win”. Even in this work. Baby steps.

But let’s also consider perspective here: Black people arrived in Southern Ontario through the Underground Railroad, having escaped slavery. Maybe tolerance felt good in contrast. Maybe it was welcomed. Maybe when you have been treated abhorently and considered property, tolerance feels liberating.

But “a long history of tolerance attracted refugee slaves to Niagara…”?
Hmmm…I have a few questions about perspective:
1. Given the Act was passed in 1793, how long is long?
2. Tolerance to whom? If we ask Indigenous Peoples in the area at that time, would they use the word “tolerance”?
3. Were “refugee slaves” really attracted to the region or were they just too exhausted to go any further for the time being? And notice we are still identifying people as slaves, rather than enslaved people – another insidious way we perpetuate the Ladder of Humanity and our respective values tied to skin colour.
4. And finaly, who wrote these words? Were they written by people who are Black who heard the stories of their ancestors? Did those stories include “tolerance”?

History is always skewed by identity, power, perspective.
Language holds meaning, and can perpetuate narratives and prejudice.
And perspectives need to be given space – not to replace, but to sit alongside so that we have a fuller and more accurate picture – of history and of the present.

Notice more.

(c) Annemarie Shrouder 2024.