Online Contributions and Publications

"In our everyday lives, we invoke the metaphors of slavery. For example, if you feel you are being exploited, you might say, 'I am being treated like a slave.' Yet few people actually know about the slavery that they constantly refer to – the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans." - Dr. Afua Cooper

Published Sunday, March 25, 2007.

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"Afua Cooper was born in 1957 in Whithorn, Westmoreland, Jamaica. One of nine children, she moved to Kingston at the age of eight; there, she began to learn about Black Power in the late 1960s. The political violence in Jamaica led Cooper to move to Canada in 1980. She attended the University of Toronto, where she obtained a BA in African Studies and Women’s Studies in 1986, an MA in Black Canadian History in 1991, and her PhD in Black Canadian History in 2000.

The Underground Railroad, Next Stop: Freedom! An exhibit commissioned by the Federal Government of Canada to commemorate the Underground Railroad and its heroes. Text, video, photographs, historical documents, and material objects have been used to present this bilingual exhibit.

April 2002-Feb. 2003: Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto  2003-2008: Black Creek Pioneer Museum, Toronto, 2008-present: Oakville Museum, Oakville, Ontario.

Introduction

Under a Northern Star presents seven unique collections held at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) that document the diverse historical experience of African Canadians. The collections include historical papers that contextualize the life and work of persons who fought against slavery and racism, built settlements, and flourished as early Canadians.

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Black Communities in British Columbia, 1858-2008: An exhibit in photo and text commemorating the 150th anniversary of the founding of the black communities of British Columbia.

February to May 2009, Teck Gallery, Harbour Centre, Vancouver. June 2009-present: City of Vancouver Archives.

Enslaved Africans in Upper Canada. A bilingual, online, and travelling exhibit detailing the practice of the enslavement of Blacks in the province of Upper Canada (Ontario), and the beginnings of the movement to end slavery. The story is told using historical photographs and documents. Oct.-2007-present: Archives of Ontario.

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. This exhibit was commissioned by the Province of Ontario to commemorate the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the British Slave Trade. Told in both French and English, this multimedia presentation documented the trade in captive Africans from West Africa to the Americas. It detailed the Middle Passage experience, and life in rural and urban slavery for enslaved Africans. Further, it addressed the question of resistance and emancipation in a comparative and transnational context. Finally, it honoured the memory of the enslaved Africans themselves. Personalities such as Olaudah Equiano, Ottobah Cuguano, Peggy Pompadour, and John Graves Simcoe were featured.

July 2007 to December 2007, Ontario Bicentenary Exhibit, Toronto.

I’ll Use My Freedom Well: The Story of Josiah Henson. A new, permanent, and bilingual multimedia exhibit on abolitionist and human rights advocate Josiah Henson, and the Dawn Settlement he founded for fugitive slaves in Dresden, Ontario. August 2006 to present: Uncle Tom’s Cabin Museum, Dresden, Ontario.

A Glimpse of Black Life in Victorian Toronto: 1850-1860. This exhibit explores, in text and photographs, Toronto in the 1850s and the black citizens who contributed to the city’s development.

February 2002 to September 2002: Museum Division, City of Toronto

Sept. 2002 to present: Online.

"Just as it is today, the dropout rate among black youth in the mid-1980s was disturbing. Close to 40 per cent of black students weren't graduating from high school, and alarmingly little was being done about it. So, in 1985, three activists - Jackie Wilson, Afua Cooper and Veronica Sullivan - decided that had to change."

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By: Andrew Wallace. Published in This Magazine, November 2009.