Panorama

Print

E-mail

Text

Critically acclaimed author Lawrence Hill will be reading from his much-lauded novel The Book of Negroes on Wednesday, Feb. 27 as a part of the International Reading Series at Toronto's Habourfront Centre.

The Book of Negroes was recently short-listed for the 2008 Commonwealth Writer's Prize and has received praise as a work of vivid detail and haunting reality. The novel focuses on the fictional life of Aminata Diallo who, as an 11-year-old child, is abducted from her village in West Africa and forced into slavery in the Southern United States.

Ultimately, Diallo escapes her desperate situation and finds her way to Nova Scotia, from where she joins a group of black Loyalists heading toward Sierra Leone in order to create a new and free existence.

"I'm looking at the connecting experiences of African people around the world," Hill said. "That's an element of history that I'm quite excited by, and it's largely unknown, forgotten or completely neglected in Canada."

For Hill, the lack of knowledge regarding historical trends, achievements, atrocities and events has led to the creation of disenfranchised members of society, as well as fractured and racialized institutions.

"All you have to do is look at the streets and the schools and the legal system and employment figures in Canada to discover that peoples of African descent still face major problems of oppression and racism in Canadian society."

Hill also sees this lack of historical context being played out through the increasing violence among Toronto's youth, as this group, unaware that many of the difficulties they now face are the result of a complex historical legacy, turn feelings of frustration inward on their own communities.

"Many times, when there have been uprisings or moments of revolt or rebellion among black people, blacks themselves have ended up being the biggest victims," Hill said.

Although Hill is enthused by Canada's willingness to grow into an increasingly pluralistic and multicultural society, he does not believe the country's recent cultural strides are a reason to bury the difficult and oftentimes painful elements of Canadian history. Instead, Hill affirms that bringing these historical elements to light will actually help to more deeply connect all Canadians.

"I love Canada and I choose to live here and I'm proud of that, but I don't think it serves us to sugarcoat our history." Hill recently said to the CBC. "I'm not interested in pointing fingers or apportioning blame. I just wanted to dramatize and bring (this history) to the forefront so that we understand and appreciate it. And that's not just that we were a haven for slaves along the Underground Railroad. But also that we practiced slavery here, too. And that we brought these Loyalists to Nova Scotia and betrayed them terribly and treated them in the worst possible way. And this isn't just black history. It's Canadian history."

Visit www.readings.org for more information about Lawrence Hill or the International Reading Series at Toronto's Habourfront Centre.

 

Jon Sarpong is the diversity officer at Durham College and UOIT. He provides independent diversity training and consultation for various organizations. Contact Jon by e-mailing jsarpong@hotmail.com.