Unsettling the Great White North: Black Canadian History ed. by Michele A. Johnson and Funke Aladejebi (review)

Reviewed by: Unsettling the Great White North: Black Canadian History ed. by Michele A. Johnson and Funke Aladejebi Nassisse Solomon Johnson, Michele A., and Funke Aladejebi, eds. – Unsettling the Great White North: Black Canadian History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2022. 632 p. Invisibility, absence, and erasure are conventional themes addressed in anthologies of the Black Canadian experience. In his reflexive opening chapter, "Critical Histories of Blackness in Canada," Barrington Walker sets the bar high for this compendium. Despite a burgeoning historiography, Walker asserts that the history of Blacks in Canada is still perceived as non-existent (p. 33). As a discipline, African Canadian history has been relegated to the margins for far too long. In response, going beyond the primary act of storytelling, Unsettling the Great White North showcases the breadth of Black history in Canada by mapping and situating the contours of Black existence across the vast and diverse Canadian social and historical milieu. In a timely release, the history of Black life in Canada is mapped from inception to institution. The collection uncovers the histories of Black lives from coast to coast. Thematically categorized, the corpus of work embodied in this collection invites the reader to imagine the long-standing presence of Black Canadians engaged in both nation- and community-building activities, from the eighteenth century to the present day. Through eight thoughtfully defined sections, readers are provided insight into social conditions for Black people in eighteenth and early twentieth-century Eastern Canada, nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Ontario, 1960s Montréal and present-day Vancouver, all within the confines of a single book. True to the aspirations outlined in the introduction by editors Michele Johnson and Funke Aladejebi, this comprehensive compilation delivers on its promise to provide a "scholarly intervention into the continual construction of Canada as a (geographically and) demographically 'white' place and space" (p. 3). Situating the diversified existence of Black Canadians from colonialism to multiculturalism is no easy feat. And yet, each chapter aptly brings the subjects of study to life. In many ways, the collection effectively showcases the "liminal space that Blacks occupied between legal equality and social ostracism" (p. 41), throughout Canadian history. Migration (forced or voluntary), settlement, resilience, resistance, and agency are recurring themes underscored throughout. As are inclusion and education. In the fall of 2022, I assigned the first three chapters of the collection as tutorial readings for a second-year Canadian history survey course. Students enrolled in the course admitted to having little prior exposure to Black Canadian history, echoing Walker's assertions highlighted above. The little exposure that students admitted to having was in relation to the celebration of Canada's role in the Underground Railroad. Karolyn Smardz Frost and Natasha Henry's pieces in the section on "Enslaving Blackness" shattered student's preconceived understandings of Canada's long-standing relationships to peoples of African descent. Frost's poignant argument that an examination of the previously ignored importation of enslaved Africans to "Nova Scotia in 1759–1775 … deconstructs the North Star Myth and forces us to reconsider where we might find Black lives in the pre-confederation days" (p. 65) resonated for many. The obfuscation of the existence of slavery in the Ontario archives highlighted by Henry left many students wondering indeed—"Where, oh, where, is bet?" in their understandings of early End Page 204 Canadian history. Both readings showcased the ways in which Black labour was a critical part of the nation-building process. The ensuing small and large group tutorial discussions were reflexive, with students trying to make sense of what they had previously learned and then reimagining the existence and practice of slavery in Canada. Many of the students enrolled in the course had disclosed their aspirations to go to a teacher's college. One can only hope that the teaching of Black Canadian history as a singular phenomenon (the North Star Myth) can indeed have a long overdue retirement. The works included in the collection span the spectrum of historical inquiry. The social, political, economic, and cultural contributions and challenges of African Canadians are explored across all eight sections. Poignantly, "Locating Historical Black Presences in Cultural Artefacts" offers a nuanced dimension...