August 1 is Emancipation Day in Canada, marking the end of slavery in the British Empire with the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. It’s a time to reflect on Canada’s history, honour Black and Indigenous resilience and recommit to justice and equity. Explore powerful stories of resistance, freedom and identity with this booklist.
Poemhood: Our Black Revival: History, Folklore & The Black Experience by Taylor Byas
Teen: Featuring an all-star group of thirty-seven powerful poetic voices, this riveting anthology depicts the diversity of the Black experience by fostering a conversation about race, faith, heritage and resilience between fresh poets and the literary ancestors that came before them.
Shovels Not Rifles by Gloria Ann Wesley
Adult: Immediately after joining the No. 2 Construction Battalion, Canada’s only all-Black battalion, Will slowly faces the harsh realities of the war and the country he wanted to fight for.
Stay Up: Racism, Resistance, and Reclaiming Black Freedom by Khodi Dill and Stylo Starr
Adult: Drawing on memoir, cultural criticism and anti-oppressive theory, Dill examines the workings of white supremacy in North America and offers readers tools to recognize how racism shapes everyday life.
Black Activist, Black Scientist, Black Icon: The Autobiography of Dr. Howard D. McCurdy By Howard Douglas McCurdy, George Elliott Clarke
Adult: Howard McCurdy was Canada's first Black tenured professor, a founder of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the National Black Coalition of Canada, and the second Black elected to Parliament.
It Was Dark There All the Time: Sophia Burthen and the Legacy of Slavery in Canada by Andrew Hunter
Adult: Sophia Burthen's account of her arrival as an enslaved person in what is now Canada was recorded by Benjamin Drew in 1855. Hunter builds on the testimony of Drew's interview to piece together Burthen's life, while reckoning with the legacy of whiteness and colonialism in the recording of her story.
Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo
Adult: The true story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped slavery in the American South by Ellen passing as a wealthy, disabled white man and William posing as her slave.
River Sing Me Home by Elanor Shearer
Adult: After the abolition of slavery in British territories in 1834, Rachel leaves the plantation where she was enslaved in Barbados to search the Caribbean for her stolen children.
Freedom Ship by Marcus Rediker
Adult: Many enslaved persons in the American South made their escape to Canada not by land, but by sea. This account examines the lesser-known history of the Underground Railroad's maritime origins.
In the Light of Dawn: The History and Legacy of a Black Canadian Community by Marie Carter
Adult: Illuminating two hundred years of lost Black History through the lens of the Dawn Settlement, an iconic abolitionist settlement led by Reverend Josiah Henson. Dawn's history (and that of its residents) often intersects with pivotal international events and features important abolitionist and civil rights figures.
Black Boys Like Me Confrontations with Race, Identity, and Belonging by Matthew R Morris
Adult: Morris, an elementary school teacher in Toronto, explores the tension between his consumption of Black culture as a child, his teenage performances of the ideas and values of the culture and the ways society and the people guiding him received those performances. What emerges is a painful journey toward transcending performance altogether, toward true knowledge of the self.
