“A Daughter of Promise – Diary of a Female African-Canadian Teacher in Rondeau, 1907” in The Promised Land: History and Historiography of the Black Experience in Chatham-Kent’s Settlements and Beyond, Nina Reid-Maroney, Handel K. Wright, Boulou Ebanda de b’Béri, eds. (University of Toronto Press, 2014), 90-105.
Eschewing the often romanticized Underground Railroad narrative that portrays southern Ontario as the welcoming destination of Blacks fleeing from slavery, The Promised Land reveals the Chatham-Kent area as a crucial settlement site for an early Black presence in Canada. The contributors present the everyday lives and professional activities of individuals and families in these communities and highlight early cross-border activism to end slavery in the United States and to promote civil rights in the United States and Canada. Essays also reflect on the frequent intermingling of local Black, White, and First Nations people. Using a cultural studies framework for their collective investigations, the authors trace physical and intellectual trajectories of Blackness that have radiated from southern Ontario to other parts of Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, and Africa. The result is a collection that represents the presence and diffusion of Blackness and inventively challenges the grand narrative of history.
Claudine Bonner is an Associate Professor in Acadia University’s Sociology department. Her research and teaching interests include African diaspora studies, critical race theory, equity and social justice, education and community history.
Other publications from this author include:
- “‘Likely to become a Public Charge’: Examining Black Migration to Eastern Canada, 1900-1930” in Unsettling the Great White North: African Canadian History (2021)
- “Labouring for Change: Narratives of African-Nova Scotian Women, 1919 – 1990” in Reid-Maroney, N. (ed). Women in the Promised Land: New Essays in African Canadian History. Nina Reid-Maroney, Boulou Ebanda de B’béri, Wanda Thomas Bernard, eds. (Women’s Press / Canadian Scholars 2018). (2018)
- “Kinship and Community Care in African Nova Scotian Communities.” in Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement, 4 (1) (2013)