Escape to Canada

This morning we saw an awesome assembly, bringing to life many elements of Black History/African Heritage. Inspired by that, Jessica in E7B was doing research on Harriet Tubman. She found a really neat online game where you experience what it would be like to be a slave escaping to freedom in Canada.

African-Canadian Profiles Competition Update

Hello gang,

Scroll all the way to the bottom of this screen and you'll see a list of the top African-Canadian profiles that have been written so far. Next week, the top 20 will begin reading their assignments on the morning announcements. As new postings are added, I will continue to update the list. Stay tuned and check often!

Assignment #6: Black History Month

Hello habibtis,

February, as most of you know, is Black History Month. One of the things we'll be doing at Fielding to commemorate this month-long celebration is daily announcements after O'Canada. I teach about 110 History students. There are about 20 school days in February. Out of my 110 students, about 20 will win. This assignment is also a competition.

Your job is to:
-Select an influential African-Canadian
-Read about them from at least two sources
-Link to those two sources
-In your own words, write a New Post describing who that person is/was and what important contributions they made to Canadian society and the world
-Your entry should be about two paragraphs long, or take about 1 minute to read aloud (just for your information, when screenwriters or TV writers write a script, one computer page of script takes about one minute to perform)
-Winning: The writers of the top entries will have the priviledge to either read their entries over the morning announcements in February or select a friend to read it for them

***Update: Here are some places to start looking for information: 10 Famous Black Canadians , Famous Black Canadians , Wikipedia's List of Black Candians , A List of Canadian Firsts, African-Canadian Online has information about black artists, African Heritage Newsletter, Profiles of Achievement,

***You get to select who you are profiling, but here are some ideas. You do not have to pick a name off the list. If you choose to use one of the names off the list, please comment here and they will be taken off the list:
.

-Bromley L. Armstrong - Civil Rights Leader
-Dionne Brand - Poet
-Rita Cox - Activist

-John Sullivan Deas - Tinsmith
-Mifflin Gibbs - Author

-Rev. Addie Aylestock - Minister

-Jean Augustine

-George Bancroft

-Lennox Farrell

-The Jamaican Maroons (a group of people)
-Africville (see above!)

-Peter C. Butler III (first black police officer in Canada)

-Richard Preston

.

-Fergie Jenkins (Baseball player) - Bardha, E8C

-Daurene Lewis (first black female mayor in North America) - Claudia

-The Anti-Slavery Society of Canada - Rachel, E7A

-Sophia Burthen Pooley - Nada, E7A

-The Second Construction Battalion (first black battalion in Canada) - Philip, E7A

-Daniel Igali - Wrestler - Jaspreet, E7A
-Emery Barnes - High Jumper - Haron, E7A

-Carrie Best - Activist - Neha, E8C

-Sam Langford (boxer) - Cody, E7A

-Miflin Gibbs - Judge - Hanifa, E7A

-Nathaniel Dett - Educator- Michelle, E7B

-Rosemary Brown - Mariam Me, E7A

-Jarome Iginla - Andi, E7A

-Deborah Cox - Helena, E7/8

-The Underground Railroad (not a person, but an important set of events) - Youssef H., E7B

-Dirk Graham - Aynalem, E7B

-Measha Brueggergosman (singer) - Genny, E7B

-Mark McKoy - James, E7B

-Frederick Douglas - Abolitionist - Mariam Mo, E7B

-Dirk Graham (first NHL captain of African descent) - Damien, E7B
-Mary Matilda Winslow (first black female graduate of UNB) - Janet, E7B

-Rannee Lee - Marsha, E7B

-Viola Desmond (business owner) - Grace, E7B

-Donovan Bailey (Olympian) - Auguste, E8C

-Malcolm Gladwell (journalist) - Andrew, E7/8

-Michaelle Jean - Gofran, E7A

-Marlene Jennings (politician) - Amit, E7/8

-Rose Fortune (first Canadian female police officer) - Lindsay, E7/8

-Shadrach Minkins (slave) - Ry, E7/8

-Marie-Joseph Angelique (slave) - Adria, E7/8

-William Hall - Firas, E7/8
-Josiah Henson (former slave) - Ally, E7/8

-Charmaine Crook - Olympian Runner - Kane, E7/8

-Mathieu Da Costa - Interpreter - Tale, E7/8
-John Alleyne - Dancer - Carly, E7/8
-Lincoln Alexander - Lieutenant Governor of Ontario - Froher, E7/8
-Chloe Cooley - Slave - Chongo, E7/8

-Elijah McCoy - Inventor - Jack, E7/8

-George Dixon - Boxer - Stefan V, E7/8

-George Bonga - Voyageur - Sandra, E7/8
-Dr. Anderson Ruffin-Abott (first Black Canadian physician) - Tim, E7/8
-Olivier Le Jeune - first Black Canadian - Kawal, E7/8
-Mary Anne Shadd - Activist/Teacher - Jessi, E7/8
-John Ware - Cowboy - Hasan, E7/8
-Oscar Peterson - Jazz Pianist - Sabrina, E7/8

-Harry Jerome - Shukria, E7/8

-Portia White - Singer - Santana, E7/8 & Sam, E7A

-Oliver Jones - Sarah, E7/8

***

***Update: (8:25 a.m. Jan 23rd) Biography has a great site about Black History. I haven't explored yet to find a lot of Canadians, but it seems like a very interesting site.***

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

Martin Luther King, Jr, who one of the most prominent leaders in the United States' Civil Rights Movement, was born on January 15th, 1929. Since 2000, people in all fifty United States have celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on the Monday closest to his birthday. This year, MLK, Jr. Day is being celebrated on Monday, January 19th.

People commemorate the life of this inspirational man annually and it gives us all a chance to take some time to think about civil rights and equality. In the United States, people are encouraged to spend the day volunteering their time to help others.

During class, your job is to watch the two videos. The first video is one made by elementary school students in which several of them perform different parts of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech. The second is a video recording of MLK, Jr. performing that historic speech. ***Please keep your volume set to a level that only you can hear as your peers will all be wanting to hear their own computers as well.***

Please open at least two windows on your computer - one for the videos and another with this blog.

While you watch the videos, I'd like you to think about the following questions:

-How did Martin Luther King, Jr.'s words make you feel?

-Why did they make you feel this way?

-What did you feel about the students' presentation?

-How can you apply some of his ideas to your own life?

As you are watching the videos or once you've finished watching them, you will reflect on what you watched and how you felt. You will be posting your responses as comments on this message and then reading and responding to the things your peers and I have written.

As most of you know, February is Black History Month (or African Heritage Month). To commemorate that, we will be researching important African-Canadians. As in many aspects of our history, we have much to be proud of and much to reflect on in terms of Black History, Civil Rights and Equality. Stay tuned for more information about things we'll be doing in February!

***Update (3 p.m. Jan 21st): To read some excellent examples, scroll through the comments and focus in on: Youssef H, Zaryab, Fatema, Mariam Me and Hanifa's comments.***