As you walk around our campus throughout the month of February, you will come across printed posters featuring biographies of Nova Scotians of African descent who made an impact on our community.

While the biographical panels on campus are a wealth of information, they are just a small part of the project, led by the Jamaican Cultural Association of Nova Scotia (JCANS) and the Manning Memorial Chapel, to highlight the legacy of African Nova Scotians.

JCANS has generously shared its biographical panels with Acadia University and the Manning Memorial Chapel for displays in the Chapel and across the Acadia campus so that our community may be offered an opportunity learn more about Black brilliance throughout African Heritage Month.

The Reverend Dr. Marjorie Lewis (Chaplain and Dean, Manning Memorial Chapel) has been instrumental in bringing this project to life, and to Acadia. Dr. Lewis herself has a storied career in ministry, community development, and theological education, including co-chairing Acadia’s President’s Anti-Racism Task Force (PART), making her the perfect person to bring this project to our campus.

Among the panels researched, written, and designed by members of the Chapel team for JCANS are those of Prof. Rudolph Ffrench, the first Black Lecturer at Acadia; Pathologist Dr. Roland Jung, who worked at the Valley Regional Hospital; and Captain Leonard Parkinson, a leader of the Jamaican Maroons who came to Nova Scotia in the eighteenth century.

“A legacy of brilliance, a legacy of resilience”

For Dr. Lewis, spreading the word about these influential “hidden figures” of African Nova Scotia is crucial because it helps us to understand the breadth of Black history.

“There has been this move to say, ‘look, Black history did not start with enslavement,’” says Dr. Lewis. “We want to not just lament our intergenerational trauma, but we also want to celebrate our legacy of brilliance, our legacy of resilience.”

“Africa had many traditional, ancient civilizations, great centres of learning, architecture, science, philosophy, and theology. People of African descent are not slaves. We come from a long tradition of accomplishment and brilliance. We were enslaved for a brief period and even with that our brilliance has shone through.”

Incorporating information about a variety of African descent and Black Nova Scotian historical “hidden figures” is a way to continue to build knowledge about Black Nova Scotians and people of African Descent who have contributed so widely to Acadia and the wider society.

“We have a legacy in action and a legacy of action. All these folks have contributed not just to the Black community, but to the wider community. And I would like us to understand that.”

“It’s important not just for the Black community but for everyone else to learn about this so that we begin to get more and more of the truth and less and less of the stereotypes,” says Dr. Lewis. “I’m very motivated for young people to know and to spend some time with this historical information.”  

“Part of the history of Acadia that we need to remember”

Dr. Lewis’s work on the project has been focused on religious figures, but many of the biographical panels on campus this month also offer up an Acadia-focused take on Blackness in Nova Scotia.

Inclusion has been integral to Acadia since its founding. “It was founded as a university where everyone could attend regardless of creed,” explains Dr. Lewis.

“They did not have EDI language in 1838, but there was a sense that you should not have to be a particular denomination to have access to education. As we expand our education of inclusion, diversity, equity, and anti-racism we are building on a religious foundation that was based on inclusion and access to education for all.”

One of the biographical panels displayed at Acadia this month tells the story of the Reverend Dr. William White, the second Black man to be accepted into the school at that time. White was an accomplished student athlete during his time at Acadia. Famously, in 1902, the Acadia rugby team was scheduled to play a game against a team from Truro. The Truro team said that they would cancel the game unless White was benched. White’s teammates stood in solidarity with him and refused the demand that they exclude their teammate from the game.

“I would say we have not got everything right, and it is an ongoing process for equity and inclusion,” says Dr. Lewis, “but this is part of the history of Acadia that we need to remember.”  

Moving forward

As for where we are going, Dr. Lewis is hopeful for the future of inclusion at Acadia. This will involve both being critical of the places where we have fallen short, but also of celebrating the successes, and growing from them.

“Sometimes it is good to not only denounce what is bad but to highlight good indicators that we can build on as well.”

“I would like to see the intentional inclusion of different perspectives in each discipline mainstreamed in both curricular and co-curricular activities at Acadia. I would like to see Black, women’s, LGBTQ, and Indigenous perspectives, not just during these months we have set aside. My hope is that this will become the norm in Acadia in every subject; that diversity, equity, inclusion, anti-racism are included, especially by highlighting the work of these often-hidden figures.”

So, when you see the biographical panels around campus this February, be sure to stop, take a moment, and learn about our history for a better perspective on our future.