This project is a research and online documentation project to address many needs, including the need to:

• Create a website that can inform Black and non-Black communities about the influence and role of Black communities in Canada from Afro-Canadian perspectives – a missing patch of Canadian history – while supporting Black youth in understanding their local history and culture
• Document the significant link between Black communities and the local church, economy, and social-culture in five important places in Afro-Canadian history : Africville, Amber Valley, Hogan’s Alley, Montreal, and parts of the Toronto-Windsor corridor

In each location, Black youth are coached and given opportunities to interview aging Black community members. In the process, the youth build relationships with local elders, learn skills, and access their local histories and culture as they experience modern day griot storytelling – a practice of oral storytelling which is part of African diasporic culture that the Nova Scotian Black communities are familiar with, but many people are losing.

A website, currently in development, which will include approximately 20 video interviews with local elders across the five locations. Moreover, the website will present how churches in the 5 cities were or are still a site of local religious, social, and/or political significance.

Vancouver January 2023

Linda Mahtley and Corey Ross, Halifax, June 2023

For project details and current developments, please contact sabrina@ccrl-clrc.ca.