Emancipation Month: Celebrating the intangible cultural heritage of Black communities
This blog post discusses upsetting content like enslavement and struggles for emancipation. Please ensure you care for yourself and connect with the community, Elders, or family if needed. Mental health support for Black communities can be found here.
Emancipation
Emancipation is the struggle, resistance, and freedom from enslavement. In March 2021, the Canadian federal government voted to make August 1st Emancipation Day. This date marked when the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 came into effect across the British Empire, including Canada.
Also, in 2021, the Ontario provincial government proclaimed August to be Emancipation Month. The entire month is dedicated to learning about our past and celebrating our future, aligning with the objectives of the United Nations’ International Decade for People of African Descent.
Slavery in Canada
Many of us were taught that Canada, the final destination along the Underground Railroad, represented freedom for enslaved African people and their descendants. But slavery happened here too. When the colony of New France — the first major European colonial settlement in what is currently called Canada — was founded in the early 1600s, slavery was a common practice, and the Church was the largest ‘owner’ of enslaved people. During this time, enslaved Black people lived short and difficult lives, dying at an average age of 25.
Slavery continued after the British took control of New France in 1763. Our ancestors of African descent, who were brought here via the Transatlantic slave trade, were forced into labour, stripped of their names, and pressured to abandon their faiths, cultures, and native languages. Slave owners were brutal and the treatment of enslaved people included torture, physical and sexual abuse — all enforced by law.
Resistance and Abolition
From the beginning, enslaved people resisted slavery in many ways. They dared to love, flee, and engage in rebellion and resistance including mutinies onboard slave ships. For the enslaved, resistance was overt, like fighting back, talking back to authorities, running away, outright rebellions, or covert, like working slowly, breaking tools, stealing, and arson. Over time, resistance included the establishment of Maroon communities.
Abolition took root in 1793 when the Act to Limit Slavery in Upper Canada was passed. It made it illegal to bring enslaved people into the region and declared that children born to enslaved people would be free at age 25. While it didn’t free anyone directly, those arriving here from enslavement would be free. Legal efforts continued until 1807 when the transatlantic slave trade was abolished in Britain and then abolished across the British Empire in 1834.
Every day, especially during Emancipation Month, we must honour ancestors like Chloe Cooley and uphold their legacies of labour.
Carried Ingenuity: Culture, Civilization, and Creativity
“The thumbprints of the culture that formerly enslaved people created are now stamped on virtually every facet of (North) American culture... By the Civil War, Black people had already changed... concepts of architecture, burial, music, storytelling and medicine.”
Leslie Wilson, Historian
We did not arrive here as blank canvases in need of civilization. While African ancestors only carried a few physical possessions from the Mother Continent to Turtle Island, they brought invaluable knowledge, ingenuity, and culture that have been passed down to us, often unknowingly. African ways of knowing and cultures influence the cadence of a pastor, blues, country and jazz music and the way we treat epidemics. Even cartoons featuring clever talking animals such as Bugs Bunny, were inspired by African folktales, first told by enslaved people.
From Juneteenth in the United States to Emancipation Day in Canada, work continues to dismantle the myth that enslaved Africans came here without culture and civilization and to preserve intangible cultural heritages from the Mother Continent. African oral traditions, arts, rituals, knowledge of nature, and universal practices have been passed on to us. Our music, dance, instruments, folklore, songs, chants, architectural styles, speech patterns, and food are all imbued with this ancestral knowledge.
This blog post is dedicated to Medhat Mahdy, who recently retired as President and Chief Executive Officer of the YMCA of Greater Toronto. Medhat was the executive sponsor of the YMCA’s Black Experience Staff Advisory Committee (BESAC), and he inspired this year's blog post and Emancipation Month event with this article: As the nation celebrates Juneteenth, it’s time to get rid of these three myths about slavery.
Ma'a Salama, Medhat. With safety and peace, we thank you for your tireless support and advocacy.
Further Learning
Please use the links in this blog and visit this comprehensive link to learn more about the middle passage, Transatlantic slave trade, Black enslavement in colonial Canada, African American freedom seekers who settled in Canada, Black Canadian communities, abolition, emancipation, and migrations.
Visit the YMCA of Greater Toronto’s dismantling anti-Black racism page for updates on our work.
Y’s Emancipation Month event
On Tuesday, August 22, from 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm, the Y’s Black Experience Staff Advisory Committee (BESAC) invites you to the 2023 Emancipation Day educational event, Carried Ingenuity: The Culture, Civilization and Creativity of our African Ancestors.
The event features Rosemary Sadlier, who will talk about the journey to the declaration of Emancipation Day, the intangible cultural heritage of enslaved Africans, and how their invaluable knowledge, creativity, and contributions are woven into our lives today.
View the recording now, using the passcode: P6E!!z#@
