Upper Grand District School Board introduces new Black history course

Nearly 30 students are enrolled in a new Black history course at the Upper Grand District School Board.

For one year, Natalie Brown and Sarah Bolton, teachers at Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute, have been developing Africentric.

Brown said she and Bolton took inspiration from the Toronto District School Board’s course. She said the GCVI program will involve teaching the same Africentric principles, but the course will be different.

“The idea is Africentric education is for everyone just like western education is for everyone. And so every student will be able to find some aspect of their identity in the books and the media that we’ve chosen,” Brown said.

The course will also examine literature from Black authors and focus on contemporaries affecting the Black community, but Brown said there are still long-lasting issues that everyone will find a connection to.

As part of the course, students will be researching and curating a walking tour on local Black history.

Brown’s class of 28 students will take a field trip to the University of Guelph on Wednesday to view the travelling exhibit.  She said she’s among the 12 Black educators featured in the exhibit as it honours those past and present in the education sector.

Trending Now

She said the course, which began on Monday, is open to any student.

Brown said she hopes the program continues beyond this month.

“While we do include books by Black authors and like every other course in the building, this one, it also takes those different teaching practices from that African tradition, those Africentric principles. So yeah, I would love for that to continue on for more than just this year,” she said.