Black Canadian History- Legacy Voices

Hi I'm Kathy Grant and I am a Cultural Historian. Our Legacy Voices project is raising funds to document, digitize and share our rich Black Canadian Stories in the classroom and with Canadians. 

In 2005 my father, a Black WWII veteran passed away. I’ll never forget our final conversation. He made me promise to highlight the stories of unrecognized Black veterans and also those inspiring stories that belong as part of Black Canadian history. 

For the past two decades I’ve worked tirelessly as a public historian to achieve this goal. I have devoted my efforts to documenting, digitizing and videotaping the stories of Black Canadian veterans and also Black Canadian history.

 I’ve collaborated with multiple organizations such as the Canadian War Museum, Library and Archives Canada and Veterans Affairs Canada. I’ve also made educational presentations to municipalities, schools, and community organizations in order to promote inclusive historical storytelling and documentation.

 I’ve done this work at great personal expense and time. It’s been my privilege to preserve the legacy of Black Canadians but now I need your help.

2024 marked two siginificant milestones in Black Canadian history.

1) The 70th anniversary of the Donald Moore delegation to Ottawa to change Canada’s restrictive immigration laws as they pertained to people of colour on April 27th, 1954.

2) The 70th anniversary of the drowning of 12 children from the Montreal Negro Communiy Centre who were on a picnic at Ile Bizzard in Quebec on July 13th, 1954.

My godfather Stanley Clyke was the executive director of The Negro Community Centre and my father Owen Rowe was the youth outreach director.

This past spring I collaborated on the Donald Moore 70th Anniversary exhibit to commemorate the Delegation to Ottawa in April 27th, 1954.

July 13th and July 14th, 2024 mark the 70th anniversary of the drowning tradgedy that took the life of the dozen children. I want to journey to Montreal to attend the commemorative event and also revisit the historical Negro Community Centre Archives at Concordia that houses records and better document this important story.

 This year and next, we shall develop exhibits and work with the Black community to create school-based curriculum.

Can we count on you to contribute today?

All donations in any amount are welcome.

Thank you