February 2024

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Celebrating how Toronto's Black community is shaping spaces for belonging

For Black History Month, we're pleased to highlight a new digital experience on how Toronto's African and Caribbean diaspora shape vital spaces for the Black community to connect, invent, and create in the city.

Black Placemaking: United Through Heritage explores how Black community members and groups, like the Nia Centre for the Arts and the Noha Collective, come together and curate environments to empower the dynamic Black identity.

Black History Unburied: Toronto Necropolis

In this new digital story, we feature Black community members from the 19th century, buried at one of the city’s oldest cemeteries, and how they contributed to our modern city. Among the gravesites is that of Albert Jackson, the first Black letter carrier in Toronto and one of the few people of colour to be appointed as a civil servant in 19th-century Canada. His appointment caused heated public debate—fueled by racism—which played out in the local newspapers of the day.

PLAQUES

Upcoming plaque will mark little-known Toronto civil rights case

This Black History Month, we spotlight an upcoming plaque acknowledging and commemorating a case of racial segregation. In November 1906, 14-year-old Arthur Taylor bought a ticket to skate at the Granite Roller Rink on Church Street. Once inside, the rink manager told him to leave because he was Black. His mother Lydia was also denied entry. In response, the Taylors sued the rink manager, Abram Orpen, for $50 ($1,400 in 2024).

During the early 20th century, Canadian law allowed businesses to refuse service to anyone based on skin colour. Advertisements and signs used terms like “select patronage” or “select clientele” to exclude people from entering. In court, Judge Frederick Morson ruled Orpen could refuse entry to Black people, but had to do so before selling tickets. Although the law was challenged many times by cases like the Taylors’, many aspects of racial segregation remained legal in Canada before being phased out in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.

The Taylor v. Orpen plaque will be placed later this year near the former site of the Granite Roller Rink on Church Street.

EMERGING HISTORIANS

Toronto After Dark: A History of the DIY Scene

Take your mind off this gloomy winter weather with a new digital story that cranks up the music to get the party started! Discover the transformation of Toronto’s nightlife: from the iconic arts and music complex We’ave, to Club 56, to the rise of DIY events in a post-pandemic landscape. Defined by a strong sense of community, these DIY parties are often organized around specific cultural, artistic, or social themes.

EQUITY HERITAGE INITIATIVE

Connecting East Asian Communities through food

For Lunar New Year celebrations on February 10, we're pleased to launch North York Recipes for Healing, 15 stories highlighting the many intersections of food-making and cultural identity.

For North York’s East Asian residents, cooking and eating together is a powerful way to connect and care for one another. Through this digital oral history experience, community members share their culinary heritage through a recipe, and reflect on changes to their relationships with food and the neighbourhood during the pandemic.

Towards a future vision where Toronto's heritage is accessible, relevant and engaging to all

Mark you calendars! On February 29, we're taking a leap forward - releasing a video amplifying community voices on the State of Heritage in Toronto. Spotlighting leaders, professionals, and city residents from equity deserving-communities, we present their recommendations for how we can better represent the diversity of Toronto's history and lived experiences, and ensure heritage plays a transformative role in future city-building.

To join us for the video launch, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or X.

Image Credits

United Through Heritage: Noha's Tribe event, It's Ok* Studios, December 14, 2023. Image by Jet Bailey.

Black History Unburied tour, Abbot grave. July 11, 2023. Image by Oscar Akamine.

The Taylor family, circa 1900. Courtesy of the de la Rosa family.

Afrique Like Me DJ group, 2023. Courtesy of Afrique Like Me.

Participants at the Full Moon Festival, October 1, 2023. Image by Oscar Akamine.

Marking Place, Making History event, St. James Park, October 15, 2023. Image by Ashley Duffus.