Browse Items (687 total)

This repair permit for the Seaview United Baptist Church highlights both the church’s significance in Africville and Deacon Ralph Jones’s commitment as an individual community leader. The permit shows that residents actively worked to maintain and…

This is a permit application for an extension to the Africville school shows that the community was growing and investing in future generations. The fact that there were residents pushing for a larger school demonstrates that Africville’s population…

This was part of a speech made by Angela Robertson in Toronto in March 1989 on International Women’s Day, which was developed by the Black Women’s Collective. The Black Women’s Collective was an organization that was active in the late 1980s, with a…

This was an advertisement for an organization called Zami as seen on the front page of a queer-focused magazine called Xtra!. Zami was founded in 1984 by a Black lesbian feminist, Debbie Douglas, along with other members like Courtnay McFarlane.…

This was a photo taken of Afua Cooper, who helped build queer-inclusive Black feminist circles in Toronto in the 1980s-90s. She is best known as a poet and a scholar of Black Canadian history, but she helped lay the foundation for queer safe spaces…

This is an image of Jackie Shane from the late 1960s in what would have been generally considered masculine clothing at the time, despite her feminine identity. Here, Jackie is shown presenting herself confidently as something outside of the norm,…

An audio recording of "Any Other Way" by Jackie Shane. This specific recording is from her live album, "Jackie Shane Live!," released in 1967. This song was incredibly popular in Canada, both when it was first released and rereleased. The importance…

An audio recording of "Kinky Love" by Dianne Brooks. This song was from her most popular and most widely received album, "Back Stairs of My Life." This song was one of her most popular songs, as it received airplay in both Canada and some parts of…

An audio clip of "(He Makes Me Feel) So Pretty" by Shirley Matthews. This song was one of her most popular songs. It also encapsulates what is regarded as the "Toronto Sound," which was gritty, had a high danceability, as well as being "Whiter" to…

someone in physical slavery can be freed by another man, someone who has more power over them but the mental can be only freed by oneself. If you don't free your mind you are bound to keep reliving through the cycle mentally because the mind is one's…