If you recently attended our Black Presence in Berlin walking tour you might be interested in these resources for further reading and learning about Black History in Canada, Ontario and Waterloo Region. Peggy Plet, writer, researcher and guide for Black Presence in Berlin, used many of these resources when developing Black Presence in Berlin.

Queens Bush Settlement

• In Search of Freedom: Early Blacks in Waterloo County – by Linda Brown-Kubish (1992) – available in the 1992 Waterloo Historical Society Annual Volume ((v.80, p.46-57), Kitchener Public Library, Grace Schmidt Room
• The Queen’s Bush Settlement: Black Pioneers, 1839 0 1865 – by Linda Brown-Kubish (2002) – available at Kitchener Public Library & some local bookstores
• African Hope Renewed: Along the Grand River (1400s-1800s) – by Angela Files (2004) a rare find as it was self-published
• Queen’s Bush Driving Tour – created by Mennonite Historical Society of Ontario, Dr. Timothy Epp

Kitchener’s 19th Century Black Residents

• The Waterloo You Never Knew – by Joanna Rickert-Hall (2019) – available at local libraries and local bookstores
• More About Levi Carroll in The Record and on a website about the House of Industry and Refuge
• Peter Edward Susand was a man of many firsts in Waterloo Region’s history – The Record
• Peter Susand, Lost Texts, and Black Canadian Literature Culture of the 1850s
• More about Robert Sutherland, Canada’s first Black lawyer, who attended Queen’s University
• More about John F. Metzger, a Black teacher who taught school in Elmira, St. Jacobs and Berlin – The Record 

Emancipation Day

• Emancipation Day – by Natasha L. Henry (2010) – available through local bookstores & libraries
• Talking about freedom: Celebrating Emancipation Day in Canada – by Natasha L. Henry (2012) – YA, available through local bookstores & libraries

West Indian Domestic Scheme

• About the West Indian Domestic Scheme, a recruitment initiative that Canada ran from 1955 to 1967 bringing domestic workers to Canada
• Ottawa’s Caribbean Comestic Pioneers

School Segregation

• The story of Ontario’s last segregated Black school – TVO, Jamie Bradburn
• Racial segregation of Black people in Canada – Education – The Aeolian
• Racial Segregation of Black Students in Canadian Schools – by Natasha Henry, August 2021, The Canadian Encyclopedia

No. 2 Construction Battalion

• A history of the No. 2 Canada Construction Battalion of 500+ Black enlisted men
• More about young Black men from Guelph, Ontario who served in the No. 2 Construction Battalion
• The Black Soldier’s Lament – Poem written by retired serviceman George Borden of Nova Scotia is read every year during Remembrance Day ceremonies in Preston, Nova Scotia
• More about retired captain George Borden who died in 2020
• Nova Scotia archive records of the Black Canadian soldiers who left Halifax in March 1917 for England
• Explore the Wold War One Records of those who served in the No. 2 Construction Battalion. This webinar explores military service files, the war diary and more historical records. Staff from Library & Archives Canada demonstrate how to search for and access digitized records online in Collection Search [NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE]
• Remembering the secret Black military unit that had to fight to serve Canada, W5 on CTV News (4 parts) November 2022.

More Black history learning resources about Ontario

• The history of North Buxton, a Black settled community of freedom seekers in Chatham Kent, Ontario.
• Speakers for the Dead, a documentary about the Black community in Priceville, Ontario and the efforts of the community to save a forgotten Black Cemetery (watch it free on NFB)
• Canfield Roots, a documentary about the Black community in Canfield, Ontario and the efforts of the community to save a forgotten Black Cemetery

Do you have Black history learning resources or connections we should know about?

We expect to add more Black History learning resources relevant to Waterloo Region as we find them! If you have learning resources or research about Black history in Waterloo Region, please contact us!