Laurier expert alert: Black History Month

Jan. 25, 2021
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.

Laurier has many virtual events planned for Black History Month, including a conference for Black high school students interested in pursuing post-secondary education, a poetry reading, a cooking demonstration, a self-care workshop and lectures about a variety of topics, including Black history and the present-day experiences of Black people in Canada. The month's events are free and many are open to the public, but registration may be required. 

The following Laurier experts are available to comment on Black history:

Carol Duncan is a professor in Laurier’s Department of Religion and Culture and director of the joint Laurier-University of Waterloo PhD program in religious studies. She is an expert on the religion and culture of Caribbean immigrants to Canada since the Second World War and especially the role of Caribbean women in the development of Spiritual Baptist religion in Canada. Professor 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

Barrington Walker is Laurier’s associate vice-president of equity, diversity and inclusion and a professor in the Department of History. 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. To set up an interview with Barrington Walker, please reach out to Claire Bruner Prime, communications and media relations officer, at cprime@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: dweiner@wlu.ca

Ann Marie Beals is a PhD student in the Community Psychology program who is studying the experiences of mixed Indigenous-Black communities in Canada and ways to integrate those experiences into high school curricula. For the Proclaiming Our Roots project, led by Assistant Professor Ciann Wilson, they helped gather and share Indigenous-Black people’s stories in arts-based forms, such as digital storytelling. Beals is available to speak about Black and Indigenous-Black histories in Canada. Read more about their research. Contact: beal0950@mylaurier.ca