I Am Black History (ITBC) - Our Stories, Our Voices

Welcome to episode 11 of Season 3 of  the  I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media. I interviewed Valerie Jerome over Zoom while travelling west last summer. We managed to travel to Vancouver a few weeks later and Valerie invited us to her home and made us an amazing brunch. She also shared photos and other archival materials of her and her brot...

InTheBlack:Canada and DeeP Visions Media are pleased to present the fourth interview in our series titled, "Black Canadians - Be Inspired" . Meet Devon MD Jones who, along with a group of three other athletes, coached by Super Bowl Champion Luke Willson, is competing on CBC's Canada's Ultimate Challenge. Be ready to be inspired as you listen to Devon share her parent's experiences of moving from S...

Welcome to episode 10 of Season 3 of  the  I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media. I reached out to Leander Lane during our across Canada trip over the summer of 2022 after Carol LaFayette-Boyd told me he would be a good person to talk to about Black history in Saskatchewan and the Prairies. Leader has done extensive research into his ancestors...

InTheBlack:Canada and DeeP Visions Media are pleased to present the third interview in our series titled, "Black Canadians - Be Inspired" . Meet Meaux Redhead who, along with a group of three other athletes, coached by Olympic speed skater Gilmore Junio, is competing on CBC's Canada's Ultimate Challenge. Be ready to be inspired as you listen to Meaux share her family's experience of immigrating to...

InTheBlack:Canada and DeeP Visions Media are pleased to present the second interview in our series titled, "Black Canadians - Be Inspired" . Meet Zalie Tshuma who, along with a group of three other athletes, coached by Olympic speed skater and cyclist Clara Hughes, is competing on CBC's Canada's Ultimate Challenge. Be ready to be inspired as you listen to Zalie share her experiences as a ten year...

InTheBlack:Canada and DeeP Visions Media are pleased to present the first interview in our series titled "Black Canadians - Be Inspired" . Meet Kate Fabien-Ferrol who, along with a group of three other athletes, coached by former Olympian, Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk), water poloist Waneek Horn-Miller, is competing on CBC's Canada's Ultimate Challenge. Be ready to be inspired as you listen to Kate shar...

Welcome to episode 9 of Season 3 of the  I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media. In this episode, I continue my conversation with Cheryl Foggo who was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. Cheryl shares more of her family's history, what life was like for her growing up in Calgary including the racism she saw happening around her, and how s...

I am so pleased to welcome you to  episode 8 of Season 3 of the  I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media. I was very fortunate to spend time with Cheryl Foggo during our across Canada trip over the summer of 2022. Cheryl was very generous with her family stories, her time, and the sharing of her own experiences of growing up Black in C...

I met Charlotte Williams (nee Mayes) during the summer 0f 2022 while travelling across Canada and am so pleased for her story to be episode 7 of Season 3 of the I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media. Charlotte was born in North Battleford, Saskachewan on October 31, 1965.  Charlotte’s paternal great-grandparents, Joseph and Mattie Mayes,...

Welcome to episode 6 of Season 3 of the I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media . I met Dr. McNeil in Indian Head Saskatchewan during the unveiling of an installation, recognizing and honouring the Indian Head Rockets. This was an all Black baseball team that was part of a league that played in the prairies in the late 40s and early 50s and who...

I met Debbie Beaver during our across Canada trip during the summer of 2022 when Debbie, her cousin Myrna, and her brother Paul took us to visit their family's original homesteads and to other Black Historical sites.  I am so pleased that her story is episode 5 of Season 3 of the I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media. Debbie was born in Ba...

Welcome to episode 4 of Season 3 of the I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media . I interviewed Noku during our across Canada trip during the summer of 2022. Noku was born February 4th, 1997 in Zimbabwe as were her parents - Siziwe and Anthony Mpofu. Noku moved to Canada in 2001 when she was 4. Her family lived in Hamilton and Burlington, ON unt...

Welcome to episode 3 of Season 3 of the I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media . I interviewed Zachariah during our across Canada trip during the summer of 2022. Zachariah is Afro-Indigenous and was born on July 10, 1998 in Thunder Bay Ontario. His mother was also born in Thunder Bay and his father was born in Mogadishu, Somalia. During ou...

Welcome to episode 2 of Season 3 of the I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media . I interviewed Carol over Zoom back in the spring of 2022 and finally got to meet her and some of her family members in person during our travels west this past summer. Carol was born on a farm near McGee, Saskatchewan and shared wonderful memories of growing up the...

Welcome back to Season 3 of the I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media . In this first episode of the season, I had a great conversation with Andrew Paris who grew up in Summerside, Prince Edward Island where his family was one of a few Black families on the island at the time. As a young person, Andrew struggled to be proud of his Blackness an...

Welcome to the final episode of Season 2 of the I Am Black History Podcast. In this part two of my conversation with Tracy Cain, she talks about the YouTube video called "Stand Up" that she put together featuring "old new" photos of her ancestors and why it's important for people to see the photos. She also talks about growing up singing old Negro spirituals in church, how singing is a passion for...

This is episode 15 of Season 2 and Part 1 of my conversation with Tracy Cain on the I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media. Tracy is a 5th generation Black Canadian who was born in Brantford, ON and now lives in Guelph, ON with her husband and their four sons. Tracy has become quite the detective when it comes to finding out about her ance...

Welcome to episode 14 of Season 2 of the of the I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media. Spending time with Vant Hayes was such a special treat. Mr. Hayes was born in Edmonton Alberta in 1926. His parent's families were part of the Oklahoma 1000s who came from Oklahoma to Alberta looking for a better life free from racial prejudice. His father's...

Welcome to episode 13 of Season 2 of the I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media.  Evelyn Myrie and her sisters left Jamaica and came to Canada to join their mother who was here as part of the Domestic Workers Program, one of the few ways Black women could emigrate to Canada. Evelyn's family settled in Windsor, On where they were welcomed i...

Welcome to episode 12 of Season 2 of the of the I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media . I met Stella Sheppard at Emancipation Day celebrations in Prince Edward Island in 2021. Stella invited me to her home where we had a conversation about her ancestors who were some of the first Black people.brought to PEI. She talked about growing up in...

This is episode 11 of Season 2 of the I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media where I got to sit down with Christian Mbanza a school teacher from Saskatchewan. Christian was born in South Africa just as Nelson Mandela was becoming the president and his family immigrated to Canada when he was nine years old. Christian says its quite an exper...

Welcome to episode 10 of Season 2 and a special episode of I Am Black History brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada and DeeP Visions Media . In this episode you will get to hear my conversation with Arnold Pinnock, co-creator, executive producer, and writer of the new CBC original series, The Porter a collaboration between CBC and BET Plus. Arnold was generous with this time and his praise for every...

Welcome to episode 9 of Season 2 of the I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media. This is a continuation of my conversation with Laina Dawes. In this episode, Laine shares what it's been like to navigate the world of heavy metal as a Black women and in particular the stuggles she had when writing her book, What Are You Doing Here?: A Black W...

Welcome to episode 8 of Season 2 of the I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) and DeeP Visions Media. This episode is part 1 of my conversation with Laina Dawes. Laine was born in Toronto Ontario but grew up just outside of Kingston, Ontario. Laina is a music and cultural critic and is the author of What Are You Doing Here?: A Black Woman's Life and Liberation in He...

This is the 7th episode of Season 2  of the I Am Black History podcast brought to you by InTheBlack:Canada (ITBC) , DeeP Visions Media, and a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. I was fortunate to travel to Prince Edward Island in 2021 to visit family and was there for an Emancipation Day celebration. In this episode, Gordon McNeilly shares how he worked with others to make that day h...