The meeting last Friday, March 1st, began with announcements from the club. Marty Fairbairn made an announcement about the upcoming Lobster Fest meeting at Luisa's house. It will be held on the 11th at 7:00PM. The hope is to get more Rotarians to join the committee and to take over some committee roles. 

 
Paul Dredge made an announcement about The Grove walkthrough on March 6th at 3:30. For those who are interested in attending, Paul said to contact him ahead of time. 

 

Marva made an announcement about the city plan. This is an exciting initiative that Marva has been working on for several years! Our program on May 5th will be centred around the Guelph Community plan. 

 

After lunch, Crista Renner introduced our speaker and fellow Rotarian Marguerite Campbell. Her presentation was centred around Black History Month. 

 

Marguerite began her presentation with a personal story about her and her son. When her son was a kid, Marguerite bought him a book whose main character was black. The book had nothing to do with black history or heritage. The book was important because her son could see himself in the character. Representation in stories is always important. 

 

When her son was older, Marguerite bought him a book about the history of the world. But she soon realized that there wasn't a single mention of black historical figures in the book. The book was completely dominated by white, European history. Most of our historical knowledge, especially in North America, is dominated by the European tradition. 

 

For this reason, Marguerite wanted to highlight some of the history of Africa. Africa is a continent made up of a multitude of diverse cultures, peoples, languages and histories. Just in Nigeria alone, one of 54 countries in Africa, there are 371 distinct ethnic groups with over 525 native languages (added by editor). To highlight the impact of colonialism, Marguerite discussed some of the broad geographical histories of Africa before Western colonization.

 

She showed two maps: one of pre-colonial Africa and one of Africa after the Berlin Conference of 1884.

 

Pre-Colonial Africa: 

 

Africa after the Berlin Conference: 

 

The Berlin Conference was a meeting between all the major Europeans powers to determine how they should split up Africa, a continent they had no claim over. Moreover, European powers divided Africa without consideration of how these arbitrary borders would impact pre-existing nations and ethnic groups. Furthermore, the lumping of distinct ethnic groups into single countries has led to countless conflicts, the most significant being the Rwandan Civil War. A war fought between two distinct ethnic groups (Hutu and Tutsi) over the control of a country created by the Berlin Conference. 

 

Marguerite discussed important dates, such as when slavery began in North America, and when it ended in Canada. 

 

She also showed a video where the comedian Michael Jr. tests people's knowledge of important black figures and historical events. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu-X4kmVEOM&ab_channel=MichaelJr. 

 

The video demonstrates how little knowledge most non-black Americans and Canadians have about black history. 

 

Near the end of her presentation, Marguerite has everyone take a 10 question quiz. Most Rotarians got very few of the questions right. Like Michael Junior's video, the quiz helps to demonstrate the need for non-black Canadians to learn more about black history generally, and Canadian black history. 

 

Marguerite also discussed the importance of language when talking about these subjects. For example, when discussing slavery, one should not use the word 'slaves' but 'enslaved people'. Being careful about the words we use and how we phrase things is crucial to being a good ally. 

 

In concluding her presentation, Marguerite provided a list of 20 influential black Canadians that each of us should learn about: 

1. Josiah Henson

2. Chloe Cooley

3. Frederick Douglass

4. Harriet Tubman 

5. Mary Ann Shad

6. William Hall

7. Robert Sutherland

8. Anderson Abbott

9. Elijah McCoy 

10. Delos Davis

11. Nathaniel Dett

12. Addie Aylestock

13. Viola Desmond

14. Leonard Braithwaite

15. Calvin Ruck

16. Maurice Ruddick 

17. Mayann Francis

18. John Alleyne 

19. Measha Brueggergosman 

20. Deborah Cox

 

She also provided links to two videos: 

 

A class divided - watch this video
https://youtu.be/1mcCLm_LwpE?si=CrrgWyv5FbxalQBi

 

https://www.ted.com/talks/

chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=

referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

 

As well as two children's books: 

- My little African King

- Amazing grace, the story of the hymn 

 

Marva thanked Marguerite for her wonderful presentation. Thank you Marguerite!

 

Notes taken by Matt Webster, edited by Aidan Harris.