The Black History Navigational Toolkit (BHNT) helps you navigate the histories of the African diaspora in Toronto. Instead of a linear overview, the BHNT features activities, places, people, and events that make up what the lead artist-researchers, Camille Turner and Yaniya Lee, understand to be their experience of Toronto as members of local Black communities.
The project features the history of abolitionist movements; community and neighbourhood histories; religious institutions; artistic expressions; community events & gatherings; literature; and activism and coalition building. The BHNT features a long history of abolitionist movements including the founding of local anti-slavery organizations and newspapers, fighting against segregated schools, and recent efforts to defund the police stemming from the Black radical tradition. It accentuates the transformative role of Black artists, curators, and institutions in the Canadian arts sector and highlights the history of dance as a window into the ways that Black people’s bodies have been a site of representation, freedom, and resistance.
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The Black History Navigational Toolkit (BHNT)
The BHNT also offers historical and present-day significance of events organized by and for Black communities in Toronto. Finally, it highlights neighborhoods like Alexandra Park, BlackGrange, Blackhurst, Little Jamaica, North York and Scarborough in shaping the city’s layered Black contexts.
As a detailed exploration of Black history in Toronto, the BHNT advocates for the acknowledgement, appreciation, and recognition of the essential role of Black communities in shaping our city’s cultural and socio-political landscape. The BHNT is an educational tool, offering an accessible means for learning about the complexity and richness of Black communities in Toronto.
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The Black History Navigational Toolkit (BHNT)
Additional Project Members:
Artist-Researchers: Camille Turner and Yaniya Lee
Managing Editor: Roxanne Fernandes
Design: Aziza Ahmad, Archive Books, Berlin
Printing: Andora Graphics, Toronto
Copy editing: Janine Armin, Ilana Shamoon
Storytellers: lwrds duniam
