By RON FANFAIR
Thirteen years after leaving Ontario to become the James Johnston Endowed Chair in Black Canadian Studies at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Dr. Afua Cooper has returned to the Greater Toronto Area to be a faculty member in the University of Toronto’s Department of Historical Studies.
After six years as the third Endowed Chair, she served as Halifax’s Poet Laureate and founded Dalhousie’s Black Faculty & Staff Caucus and was instrumental in the creation of the Black Canadian Studies Association (BCSA) summit that provides a platform for scholars and other delegates to reflect, discuss, dialogue and engage with issues critical to the praxis of community, empowerment and leadership in Black Canada.
Cooper also led the Lord Dalhousie Panel on Race & Slavery mandated to gather historical facts relating to the university founder’s statements and actions related to slavery and race.
Her commitment to social justice education led to the curation of several exhibits on Black history, slavery and freedom, including ‘Black Halifax: Stories from Here’ which was an online exhibit created in 2015 and hosted by the Delmore ‘Buddy’ Daye Learning Institute.
Cooper was a consultant to the Ontario committee set up to commemorate the bicentennial of the abolition of slavery in 2007 and her interest in slavery, abolition and Women Studies led to her doctoral dissertation on anti-slavery crusader Henry Bibb and the publishing of ‘The Hanging of Angelique: The Untold Story of Canadian Slavery and the Burning of Old Montreal’, a national bestseller that was nominated for the 2006 Governor General’s Award.
The award-winning poet, historian and author completed her PhD in History at U of T.
