Afua Cooper is the Chair of the Scholarly Panel on Lord Dalhousie’s Relationship to Race and Slavery and co-author of the Report. She is also the the former James Robinson Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies. Her research interests are African Canadian studies, with specific regard to the period of enslavement and emancipation in 18th and 19th century Canada and the Black Atlantic; African-Nova Scotian history; political consciousness; community building and culture; slavery’s aftermath; Black youth studies. Dr. Cooper founded the Black Canadian Studies Association (BCSA), which she currently chairs. Read about its first conference here. She recently wrote and performed: “15 Ships to Sierra Leone” Black Halifax: Stories from Here
Karolyn Smardz Frost is an award-winning author, historian, archaeologist and educator committed to discovering and sharing the lost narratives of our human past. She specializes in teaching primary research methods for African Canadian and African American history. A founder of the public archaeology/public history movement in Canada, she administered Toronto’s Archaeological Resource Centre in 1985, where more than 100,000 schoolchildren helped dig into their own city’s past. Karolyn is currently researching direct connections between slavery and the early history of King’s College, Halifax.
