This workshop was led by Sylvia Mangue Alene, Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a major in Human Resources; postgraduate diploma in Intercultural Education, Director, BC Black History Awareness Society. In 2017 Sylvia was elected President, BCBHAS.
This workshop focuses on the management of social interactions with diverse people in everyday life. As a human resources specialist, Sylvia seeks to create models of diversity in the area of human resources that can be used by organizations seeking a more just and equitable workplace.
With slides and conversation, Beth Cruise, MA University of Alberta, Founder and Executive Director of the Canadian Earth Institute, a certified teacher and a Journal Editor for the international organization, Sustaining All Life (SAL). At this time, Beth was a Director and Treasurer with BC Black History Awareness Society.
Beth presented details about her trip to the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris Nov 30,2015 – Dec 12, 2015; as a delegate with SAL, presenting thirty-two workshops, forums, listening projects and caucuses at the conference. In her presentation today, Beth talked about the people and work of SAL, perspectives and tools on eliminating racism and racism’s connection to climate change.
Did you say “Black” British Columbia? The Politics of Absent Presence between the Black Pioneers and Present Day African Refugees with Professor Handel Kashope Wright. Professor Wright is the Director of the Centre for Culture, Identity and Education, University of British Columbia. In this presentation he addresses the purpose and effects of erasing a substantial part of Black history. He also names the projects that document Twentieth Century Black BC. There is an urgent need to strongly assert that Black Lives Matter, in historical, contemporary, geographical and political terms, despite constituting a small percentage of the BC population.
In 2021, Professor Wright was the keynote speaker for our 2021 Black History Month program – “Putting Black British Columbia to Work”. Watch
Paul Winn is a Lawyer, Staff Liaison with the Multiculturalism Committee in the BC Law Society and Senior Staff at the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, at the Multiculturalism Secretariat, at the Affirmative Action for Visible Minorities Services, at the National Literacy Secretariat and the Anti-Discrimination Directorate. He wrote and hosted “The Canadians”, a weekly television program which looked at the various multicultural communities in Canadian society. The focus of the show was to emphasize the similarities shared by all Canadians regardless of background or ethnicity. Paul has won a variety of awards and certificates of appreciation for his work in race relations. His talk today was about Black individuals, groups, and organizations across Canada; historical perspectives and concerns for the present.
Through songs and narrative, Lonnie Glass related the story of Lincoln’s journey from his pre-Presidential career through the Civil War to his untimely death at the hand of an assassin. Lonnie recorded “Chapter of Night“, an American Civil War Prospective in 2010, based on his research and tours in the southern USA. Lonnie is a consummate musician, performer, entertainer, and story teller. This event was in commemoration of the life of Lincoln who was assassinated 150 years ago on April 15, 1865.
Poster/images © Lonnie Glass, all rights reserved
Performance by Nigerian-born Tayo Aluko, actor, singer and playwright, based in Liverpool, UK.
Tayo Aluko IS Robeson. Paul Robeson was an international star, who sang renditions of the most iconic songs from the thirties to the sixties, and was a political activist who was persecuted as a communist sympathizer in the Cold War USA. Aluko effortlessly recounts Robeson’s life and times… “A brilliantly put together history lesson delivered as art.”
On this date, April 16, 2015 BCBHAS is a co-sponsor of this event with Victoria Multi-Cultural Society, Social Environmental Alliance, UVIC Department of History, UVIC Cultural, Social and Political Thought Program and UVIC Social Justice Studies.
About 2 years earlier on February 20, 2013 BCBHAS sponsored this show with the METRO Theatre.
Grafton Tyler Brown is BC’s first professional landscape artist and the first artist to hold an exhibition in Victoria. His exhibition was for 1 week beginning on June 25th,1883. On February 15th,2015 an audience of Society members, families, friends and invited guests gathered to hear UVIC History Dept. Chair, Dr. John Lutz talk about Brown’s life, career and experiences pre and post Victoria.
The public would learn more about Brown at an event promoted by our Society, put on by the UVIC Legacy Art Gallery on February 4,2017. This was an afternoon presentation by Dr. John Lutz, and writer and art historian, Robert Chandler. This event included a digital display of many of Brown’s works.
and there’s more … on March 19th,2017 at the UVIC Legacy Art Gallery, 3 local artists, Charles Campbell, visual artist; Kemi Craig, film and dance artist; and Ann-Bernice Thomas, spoken word artist; presented their interpretations of Brown’s life and work.
and … check out our event “Art at the Archives“, June 25th,2019.