The University of Guelph is commemorating Black History Month by hosting a travelling exhibit.
Throughout this week, the exhibit will honour the contributions of 12 Black educators from the past and present on the first floor of the school’s McLaughlin Library.
Marsha Hinds Myrie, organizer of Putting Name to Face: Celebrating Black Excellence in Teaching in Guelph, Wellington, Waterloo and professor at the post-secondary school, said the exhibit traces the local Black community’s contributions back to the late 1800s.
“Wherever there has been a Black community coming out of our historical experiences, we have tried to have education that supports the needs of the community and that allows us to step back into our humanity using education as a tool,” Hinds Myrie said.
She said the exhibition is divided into three parts: the groundbreakers, the keepers and the futures. The exhibit connects the past, present and future to show their place in the education sector.
The project echoes the education philosophy of Hinds Myrie, an adjunct professor in the U of G’s political science department who specializes in Black resistance and organizing as well as the education developer of anti-oppressive and inclusive pedagogies in the Office of Teaching and Learning.
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In a news release, she said Black educators have used anti-oppressive approaches to teaching and learning in their work, which is rooted in the community, essentially “for people, by people.”
Hinds Myrie said this exhibit shows the potential for that kind of approach to education.
“I think in this time, our students want a more connected and grounded presentation of ideas and beliefs and material that is important, and so anti-oppressive pedagogies help us to do that,” she said.
Hinds Myrie said the exhibit will feature the significant contributions made by Black individuals within one sector. There will be a documentary on the exhibit at the main library branch on Feb. 11.
“We’re moving through our story, not just from the struggle and the resistance that people know about and hear about, but we also saying we’ve been doing all of these things even as we have struggled and even as we have fought for our full humanity,” she said.
Natalie Brown, a teacher and co-organizer of the Grade 12 English course Africentric at Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute, is among the educators showcased in the exhibit.
Brown said she, along with her students, will be taking a field trip to see the exhibit on Wednesday as part of the course.
Hinds Myrie said it’s important to learn and teach Black history because there are still perceptions being wrestled away in the Black community as well as other communities.
The project will move to a pair of Guelph library branches throughout February, and then it will be on the Office of Teaching and Learning website.
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