J’can‑led exhibition on slavery in Canada at UN Headquarters

An exhibition curated by Jamaican-Canadian historian Dr Afua Cooper is now on display at United Nations headquarters in New York. ‘A History Exposed: The Enslavement of Black People in Canada’ is being shown in the Visitors’ Lobby until April 20.

Cooper said she is honoured to have curated the country’s first national exhibition on the enslavement of black people in Canada. According to information on the United Nations’ website, it “challenges assumptions, even for those deeply engaged in human rights and historical remembrance” and “confronts more than two centuries of enslavement under French and British colonial rule. It examines Canada’s role in the transatlantic system that forcibly displaced millions of Africans.”

“This powerful exhibit sheds light on the complex realities and long-silenced histories of enslavement,” said Secretary General António Guterres. “It honours the resilience, creativity and enduring cultural traditions of communities who sustained their humanity in the face of profound injustice and unimaginable hardship.”

Drawing on archival material and narrative testimony, the exhibition recounts the experiences of figures such as Marie Josèphe Angélique, whose act of resistance in Montreal in 1734 has become emblematic of the broader struggle for freedom.

“A History Exposed shines a necessary light on a chapter of Canadian history that was too long overlooked. In acknowledging the enslavement of black people in Canada, we honour the resilience of those who suffered and accept our responsibility to remember, to educate, and to confront the legacies of slavery that persist today,” said Ambassador David Lametti, permanent representative of Canada to the United Nations.

The exhibition was created by the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, in partnership with the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia, and guest curated by Dr Cooper. Its display at the UN was organised by the United Nations Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery.

An opening reception took place on March 24, followed by a General Assembly commemoration on March 25, the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. This year’s ceremony featured remarks from Esther Phillips, Barbados’ Poet Laureate, and Shahaddah Jack, Toronto’s first Youth Poet Laureate.

SYNOPSIS NOTES

The exhibition opened at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in August 2024 and is scheduled to tour Canada until February 2030. A synopsis notes: “Canada’s connection to enslavement is not just the Underground Railroad – enslavement played a significant role in the early settlement of Canada and its legacy can be seen and felt today. Discover the experiences of enslaved black people in Canada through individual biographies and archival records, learn how enslavement came to be in Canada, and find out who were Canada’s enslavers.”

Visitors are advised that, “This exhibition contains images and text describing violence endured by enslaved peoples and documents with racist and colonialist language. This content may challenge and disturb visitors. Adults with young children may wish to preview the exhibit beforehand.”

Dr Cooper, originally from Whithorn district of Westmoreland, is the principal investigator for A Black People’s History of Canada, a past visiting scholar at Harvard University’s Charles Warren Centre for Studies in American History, and a member of UNESCO’s International Scientific Committee of Routes of Enslaved Peoples. A graduate of Camperdown High School, she previously taught at Vauxhall Secondary School before migrating to Canada in 1980.

A leading scholar, author and artist, Cooper’s work on enslavement, abolition, freedom and black Canadian history has reshaped the field. Her groundbreaking book The Hanging of Angelique was nominated for a Governor General’s Award and listed among CBC’s best Canadian books. She co-founded the Black Canadian Studies Association and established Dalhousie University’s Black and African Diaspora Studies Minor. An acclaimed poet and co-founder of Canada’s Dub Poetry movement, she served as Halifax’s Poet Laureate in 2018. Her many honours recognise her commitment to linking scholarship, creativity and social justice.

In 2020 she received the Portia White Prize, Nova Scotia’s highest artistic accolade, and was later nominated for the Premier of Ontario’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. She is also a 2024 honouree of the Order of Nova Scotia, recognised for her scholarship on black Canadian life and her leadership as a mentor and academic.

The exhibition will travel to locations across Canada – including Ottawa, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec and Saskatchewan – until 2030.

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