In the late 1800s, John Ware migrated to and settled in Blackfoot territory southwest of Calgary. Born into slavery in South Carolina, Ware became a successful rancher upon settling in Alberta. He died in 1905 at the age of 60. (Glenbow Archives)

By Josh Hall

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Black history teaching in Alberta comes up short, advocates say

Feb 23, 2021 | 2:39 PM

There is significant room for growth in teaching Black history within Alberta schools.

That’s the prevailing thought discovered after speaking with several people, younger and older, about how Black history is presented in the current K-12 curriculum.

Black History Month is internationally recognized during February, but the province’s curriculum, which hasn’t changed since 2005, doesn’t mandate that any specifics be taught about Black history. It was constructed that way so teachers could adapt their lessons to current events.

“Alberta’s future K-12 curriculum will include content on the history of Black Albertans and Canadians. We have engaged various experts, including Black scholars, as part of our mandate to align the curriculum to our new Ministerial Order on Student Learning,” Alberta’s Ministry of Education, which is in the midst of a curriculum review, said in a statement to rdnewsNOW.

“As part of the Government’s commitment to recognize the contributions of Black Albertans within our curriculum, Dr. Marvin Washington and Dr. Onookome Okome provided advice on diversity based on their expertise and lived experience.”

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Dr. Washington is an associate dean at the University of Alberta (U of A) who has worked with government and industry leaders in places like Botswana and Mexico.

Dr. Okome is a full professor of English at the U of A with research interests in African studies, literature and pop culture. The pair have served as advisors in the area of ‘diversity and pluralism’ during the reviews drafting stage.

Piloting of the new curriculum will start this September starting with K-6. Implementation will begin in Sept. 2022, with Grades 7-10 waiting until Sept. 2023, and Grades 11-12 a year later.

René-Osmani Diakité, incoming co-chair of Ubuntu Youth Council, says enhancements to Black history education would be an overdue step in the right direction.

“People are opening their eyes during this pandemic to a lot of the problems in this world,” says Diakité, a Grade 12 student at Red Deer’s Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School. “Black Lives Matter last year was so powerful. However, we can’t disregard the fact that more Black History should’ve been incorporated into the curriculum a long time ago.”

Diakité, whose mother and father are from Cuba and Guinea, respectively, describes teachings on Black history in school as “brief.”

“It’s almost like the curriculum conveniently skips certain parts. We have talked briefly about slaves, ultranationalism, we did a section on Rwanda, but nothing ever grand-scale,” he says.

“I understand the curriculum must fit in a certain amount of things, but there are very deep and powerful lessons which everyone should learn in school related to Black history.”

Diakité cites Martin Luther King Jr. and the way he conveyed his message to the people in sparking a revolution. MLK’s story is rarely, if ever, touched upon in great depth, he says.

Suza Pannenbecker, who was born in Haiti and came to Canada as a young child, says Black history is rarely taught at school. (Mar Pannenbecker)

Suza Pannenbecker, a Grade 8 student at École Lacombe Junior High School, says her start to Black History Month was disappointing.

“On February 2, a Tuesday, my teacher had announcements on the whiteboard, and it said Groundhog Day. Nothing had been said yet about Black History Month,” shares Pannenbecker. “The teacher later claimed he had plans for it later in the month, but I went home that day and wondered why Groundhog Day was more important to mention or talk about first.”

Pannenbecker and her brother Adnesse, who’s in Grade 9, moved to Alberta from Haiti when they were much younger. She says they could each count on one hand the number of times Black history has been taught to them in school.

“I’ve learned almost nothing. We watched one movie this year with racism in it, but it wasn’t a learning experience, it was just for fun,” says Suza of the Disney football film Remember the Titans. “We didn’t talk about the racism.”

Adnesse acknowledges his homeroom teacher, who’s passionate about such subjects, has discussed Rosa Parks, and the Nova Scotia community known as Africville.

Be it Martin Luther King Jr., or Black pilots who served in WWII, the Pannenbeckers agree all students are not learning enough about Black History in school.

They concur too that stronger focus on teaching Black history would perhaps lead to fewer personal experiences with racism at school.

“In 2005, the government introduced multiple perspectives of events as opposed to just European, which had made up the prior curriculum of 25 to 30 years; that included First Nations, Metis and Inuit, as well as Francophone perspectives,” explains Brian Plastow, Director of International Education with Red Deer Public Schools. “They also reduced the amount of prescribed content.”

Plastow, formerly Thurber’s social studies department head, says he’s seen bits and pieces of the new curriculum’s guiding framework. It indicates, he says, there will be new lessons related to Amber Valley, Alberta, and the experiences of new Canadians, among others.

Pannenbecker says it needs to go much farther.

“We’ve had a Black person – Viola Desmond — on the $10 bill since 2018, and until my older sister mentioned it recently, I had no idea,” she remarks.

“Until just a few days ago when I asked my mom who he was, I didn’t know what Martin Luther King was famous for. There are Canadian figures like John Ware, Violet King Henry and so many others who’ve changed the world that I don’t know of.”