Brock celebrates African Heritage Month

During the month of February, the Brock/Niagara African-Canadian Renaissance Group will be hosting a number of events — both at Brock University and the Niagara Region — to celebrate African Heritage Month.

The group consists of a number of community groups including the African Association of Niagara, the Council of Black Organizations in Niagara, the Black History Society, the African Caribbean Association of Niagara and the Black Methodist Episcopal Church, as well as a Brock University club – the Roots African Caribbean Society. The events of this year's Heritage Month include films, exhibits, lectures and an Underground Railroad tour through Niagara and the surrounding area.

"It's important to learn the history of African people because the history of African peoples is World history, because everybody came from Africa," said Richard Ndayizigamiye, Vice-President and Public Relations Officer for the African Association of Niagara, and member of the African Canadian Renaissance Group.

"We still need to celebrate in order to remind people there is an important aspect of our common history that is still neglected," said Jean Ntakirutimana, member of the organizing committee of the African Canadian Renaissance Group.

"If people would not forget, in that case probably we will not need to celebrate that month anymore."

There will be an exhibit of Underground quilts and African cloths in the Sean O'Sullivan Theatre at Brock until Feb. 24. The exhibit includes a number of cloths from Africa including those from Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and more. Each piece has a description card detailing its history. There will also be a student curator available to answer questions. Also included is a quilt from the Underground Railroad, which was used by escaped slaves to share embedded messages.

"It's a kind of quilt with coded messages [that] were used to show people safe places to go or places to avoid," said Ntakirutimana.

On Feb. 11 there was a tour of historic Underground Railroad sites in the Niagara Region, including a number of churches which have been converted into museums. There was also a film festival which included various films on African life in North America. As well, on Feb. 16 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., Behnaz Mirzai, Associate Professor of History at Brock will be showing her film Afro-Iranian Lives, which will be followed by a question and answer session.

On Feb. 10, the first annual Dr. Wilma Morrison African Heritage Month Lecture took place, with guest speakers Dr. Wilma Morrison and Hon. Jean Augustine. To recognize all the contributions Morrison has made towards preserving the rich African Canadian history in the Niagara Region, an annual Lecture series has been dedicated in her name. Morrison was also awarded an honorary degree from Brock in 2010. Augustine was a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore from 1993 to 2005 and was discussing her own experience and the future of political participation by People of African Descent in Canada. Augustine, during her time as an MP, also helped establish the first national declaration of Black History Month in Canada which came into effect in February 1996.

On Mar. 1, from 4:00 to 6:30 p.m. at Brock in Sankey Chamber, there will be a lecture on three topics including the War of 1812, Richard Pierpoint and the Coloured Corps. Morrison and author Ron Dale, the Superintendent of historic sites in Niagara for Parks Canada, will be speaking.

One of the aims of the African Canadian Renaissance group is to facilitate the development of a Chair of African Canadian studies at Brock University. Brock University is uniquely positioned to have a number of resources available due to the history of the surrounding area.

"The Chair will be very good for Brock in general but especially because we have the physical resources and historical resources available, and we also have people from various areas of research on campus and in the community who can be very helpful," said Ntakirutimana.

This idea has been thought about before and has been recently looked at; originally the plan was to name the chair after Harriet Tubman however, now Morrison's name is being considered as well. If this Chair is developed, more courses will be offered in a number of subjects areas about African Canadian studies.

"There is a thirst for knowledge in that area, but nothing is offered, so it should be created," said Ndayizigamiye.

For information about African Heritage Month and a full calendar of events, please visit rootsacs.webs.com