Our Roots in Activism is a SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis Grant (co-investigators Nassisse Solomon and Nina Reid-Maroney, 2024-2026.)
A deep and critical historical consciousness is a prerequisite to social justice activism. Given this premise, what is the current state of knowledge about the rich history of anti-racist activism in 19th and 20th century Canada, and what can we learn from this assessment?
Responding to SSHRC’s call for researchers to consider what the landscape of freedom will look like in Canada’s future, our project argues that there is an urgent public interest in studies that center histories of anti-racist work in Canada. From Black abolitionists and interracial antislavery movements in the 1840s and 1850s, to the 1880s Civil Rights League, and 20thc civil rights groups including the National Unity Association, whose work led to Ontario’s landmark civil rights legislation of 1954, antiracist activism constitutes important and deeply under-studied narratives that hold rich possibilities for informing current antiracist education, policy, and practice.
In addition to the project report and evidence brief, the project outcomes include: two public symposium at Huron University College, a panel at Museum London with local Black history curators and site directors, support for the Buxton History and Genealogy Conference 2025, a Museum London student conference, research travel to Bath, Manchester, and London UK, student research projects on Black activism in Canada, and an ArcGIS map of Black community activism and presence.