Laurier expert alert: Black History Month

Feb. 3, 2020
For Immediate Release

Waterloo – Black History Month is celebrated annually during the month of February in both Canada and the United States to celebrate and recognize the many achievements and contributions of Black Canadians and Americans.

The following Laurier experts are available to comment on Black History Month:

Carol Duncan is a professor in Laurier’s Department of Religion and Culture. She is an expert on the religion and culture of African and Caribbean immigrants to Canada since the Second World War and especially the role of African and Caribbean women in the development of Spiritual Baptist religion in Canada. She has also been involved in several research projects, including on the Underground Railroad and legacies of slavery in Canada. Duncan is the author of This Spot of Ground: Spiritual Baptists in Toronto and co-author of Black Religious Studies: An Introduction. She was the co-editor of The Black Church Studies Reader and Womanist and Black Feminist Responses to Tyler Perry’s Production and an academic consultant and on-screen commentator for Seeking Salvation: A History of the Black Church in Canada, which won the 2005 American Wilbur Award for best national television documentary. Contact: cduncan@wlu.ca or 519.884.0710 x3692

Barrington Walker is Laurier’s senior advisor for equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and a professor in the Department of History. Walker joined Laurier at the beginning of January from Queen’s University, where he was an associate professor of history. In his new role, Walker is leading the creation of a university-wide EDI strategy and providing expertise, guidance, mentorship and support to faculty and staff working toward EDI-related goals.

Walker has written about and taught Black Canadian history, race, law and immigration; Canadian social history; African-American history, especially in the American South; and relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in North America. He has written one book, Race on Trial: Black Defendants in Ontario’s Criminal Courts, 1858-1958, and edited two others, History of Immigration and Racism in Canada: Essential Readings and The African Canadian Legal Odyssey: Historical Essays. He holds a doctorate in history from the University of Toronto. Contact: bawalker@wlu.ca

Dana Elizabeth Weiner, associate professor in Laurier’s Department of History, is an expert on race and rights in 19th century United States. Weiner specializes in African American rights and activism in the Midwest and West, as well as the anti-slavery movement. She teaches about slavery, the U.S. Civil War and its aftermath, and rights movements. Her current research is in African American citizenship activism and efforts to remove racist laws in California during the 19th century. Contact: 519.884.0710 x2092 or dweiner@wlu.ca