Boulou Ebanda de B’béri

Nina Reid-Maroney

Wanda Thomas Bernard

Women in the “Promised Land” reframes Canadian history through the lens of African Canadian women’s lived experiences. This collection of original essays spans the period from slavery and abolition through to women’s activism in the 20th century, focusing on themes of race, migration, gender, community, religion, and the struggle for social justice. Re-examining familiar figures in African Canadian women’s history, including abolitionist and feminist Mary Ann Shadd Cary and civil rights activist Viola Desmond, the volume considers them in the wider context of scholarship on Canada and the African diaspora. Drawing on insights from cultural studies, communications, literary studies, and visual culture, the contributing authors use rich primary sources to ground their analysis in the details of women’s historical experiences. Together, the chapters work to unsettle Canadian history and demonstrate its urgent relevance to the present, encouraging readers to interrogate the concept of Canada as a “promised land.” Edited by leading scholars in the field, this accessible, interdisciplinary collection includes suggested further readings, chapter overviews, and discussion questions, making it an essential read for students in women’s studies, African studies, and history.

Essays in African Canadian History

Women in the "Promised Land"

Handel Kashope Wright

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.

Boulou Ebanda de B’béri

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