Black Excellence

Learn what our students and staff are doing to promote anti-Black racism in our Durham Catholic schools.

Visit our Celebrating and Supporting Black Excellence page to learn more:

Celebrating and Supporting Black Excellence at DCDSB

Discover Black Canadian Excellence

Below is a list of Canadians who contributed to the greatest of our country.

Five Black Canadian Artists whose names should be known alongside of the Group of Seven
Africville - was an African-Canadian village located just north of Halifax
Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters - railway employees, union was formed in 1939
Chatham Coloured All Stars - first all-Black baseball team in Ontario
The No. 2 Construction Battalion – the first and only all Black battalion in Canada
York Tavern – refused to serve Fred Christie and his friends because they were Black; Christie sued and the case went to the Supreme Court, acknowledging an era of legalized racism
Queenston Heights – battle place in the War of 1812 when the Canadian militia and British army assisted First Nations allies to defeat the Americans Uncle
Uncle Tom's Cabin – a historic site in Dresdon, ON, to represent the anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, that educated many and may have helped lay the groundwork for the American Civil War
Victoria Pioneer Rifles - a Black militia group that was formed when Blacks were not allowed to join an all-white firefighting group in BC, they contributed greatly to the safety and social order on Vancouver Island
IMO and Mont-Blanc - two ships that collided in the Halifax harbour, creating a massive explosion that killed many Blacks as the north end of Halifax was wiped out
Elgin Settlement – one of four organized Black settlements in Canada for slaves who escaped to Canada to gain freedom
Little Burgundy – historical home of Montreal’s Black English-speaking, working class community

Black Canadians

Surnames A to D

Anderson Abbott - the first Black person born in Canada to receive their diploma in medicine.
Wilson Ruffin Abbott – father of Anderson Abbott, successful businessman in Toronto and elected to Toronto city council
Zanana Akande – first Black woman to be appointed to Ontario’s Cabinet
Lincoln Alexander - the first Black Canadian member of Parliament, Cabinet minister and lieutenant-governor; Lincoln Alexander Day – January 21st
Bromley Armstrong – activist and Canada’s first anti-discrimination laws
Jean Augustine – educator and first Black woman to be elected to the Canadian House of Commons
Donovan Bailey – two-time Olympic champion and founder of Bailey Foundation
Carrie Best – civil rights activist and co-founder of The Clarion
Elladj Blade - Black figure skater
Bonga Family - best-known Black fur-trading family due to the number of surviving documents about them
Leonard Braithwaite – lawyer and politician, the first Black Canadian elected to a provincial legislature
Hugh Burnett – civil rights activist and creator of the National Unity Association
Ethelbert (Curley) Christian - First World War veteran, quadruple amputee, helped create the Canadian Forces assistance program for disabled veterans
Devon Clunis – Inspector General of Police for Ontario, Canada’s first Black police chief
Anne Cools – advocate against domestic violence, first Black member and longest serving member of the Senate of Canada
Vanessa Craft – award winning journalist & novelist; first Black Editor-in-Chief of ELLE magazine
Andre De Grasse – Olympic medalist, sprinter
Ernest Melville Duporte – Canadian entomologist and professor at McGill University Eldridge Eatman - one of the greatest sprinters (raced against a horse and a train) in New Brunswick’s history

Surnames E to J

Eldridge Eatman - one of the greatest sprinters in New Brunswick’s history
Rose Fortune – successful businesswoman (luggage carrier and ‘wake-up calls’) and considered Canada’s first policewoman
Mayann Francis – first woman to hold the provincial ombudsman position in Nova Scotia and fought to advance diversity and equality in Canada
Mifflin Gibbs - politician (first Black person elected to public office in BC), judge, diplomat, banker, entrepreneur
Hartley Gosline - RCMPs first official Black Mountie

Aubrey ‘Drake’ Graham - rapper, singer, songwriter, actor

Kayla Grey – sports broadcast journalist
Stanley Grizzle – railway porter, soldier, civil servant, citizen judge and activist for the rights of Black Canadians
William Hall - the first Black, the first Nova Scotian, and the first Canadian naval recipient of the Victoria Cross
Josiah Henson - born enslaved, escaped to Dresden, ON and founder of Dawn Settlement
Barbara Howard - athlete, first Black female athlete to represent Canada in international competition, and educator, first Black person hired by the Vancouver School Board
Jarome Iginla – NHL player, first Black male athlete to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympic games and first Black to win the Art Ross trophy, Maurice Richard trophy and Ted Lindsay award
Albert Jackson - born enslaved, escaped and was the first Black mail carrier in Toronto
Angela James – led the Canadian women’s hockey team to four world championships in the 90s, second Black athlete to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame
Feguson Arthur Jenkins - arguably the best Canadian-born baseball player and the first Canadian elected to the Baseball Hall of Harry Jerome Jr.
James Robinson Johnston – Nova Scotia’s first black lawyer
Lenny & Gwen Johnston - co-owners of a bookstore (1968 - 2000) with books by Black people about Black people

Surnames K to P

Boston King - former slave who settled in Nova Scotia and then later helped to bring Black Loyalists to Freetown in Sierra Leone
Violet King - first Black Canadian to obtain a law degree in Alberta, the first Black person admitted to the Alberta Bar and the first Black woman to become a lawyer in Canada
Andrea Elaine Lawrence (halfway through article) - first Black female to enlist in RCMP
Michael Lee-Chin - billionaire business and philanthropist
Olivier Le Jeune - first recorded slave to be born in New France
Ray Lewis - sprinter, first Canadian-born Black athlete to earn an Olympic medal
Kay Livingstone - founded the Canadian Negro Women’s Association in 1951 and organized the first National Congress of Black Women in 1973
Elijah McCoy - engineer and inventor, with over 50 registered patents,
James Mink – started first public transit system (coach service) in Toronto and Kingston with his brother, George becoming the wealthiest Black people in Canada in 1850s
Dwayne Morgan - Spoken word, poet and author
Donald Willard Moore - community leader and civil rights activist, worked with immigration laws
Kardinal Offishall - Canadian rapper, singer and song writer
Sarah Onyango – translator and community radio (CBC and CTV) personality
Willie O’Ree - first Black hockey player to play in the NHL, inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, his number has been retired by the Boston Bruins (second video)
Oscar Peterson – pianist, composer and educator
Richard Pierpoint - former slave, petitioned for an all-Black unit and fought with the Coloured Corp in the Battle of Queenston

Surnames Q to T

Jackie Robinson – first black to play in the MLB, played for the Montreal Royals prior to the MLB being desegregated
John Arthur Robinson – sleeping car porter and started the union called the Order of Sleeping Car Porters (OSCP)
Dr. Antonia Sappong - doctor
Marisse Scott - educational reform activist
Mary Ann Shadd – first Black female newspaper publisher in Canada
Lori Seale-Irving - first Black female commissioned officer in the RCMP
P.K. Subban - NHL defenseman, founder of P.K. Subban Foundation
Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) – singer-songwriter
Seymour Tyler – First and Second World War veteran, awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal in World War I, as well as the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal and the Defence Medal in World War Two
Harriet Tubman - led numerous enslaved people to freedom in Canada through the Underground Railway

Surnames U to Z

John Ware - is a legend in Alberta, known as one of the best cowboys in the West
Portia White - first Black Canadian concert singer to win international acclaim
Andrew Wiggins – NBA player, second Canadian to be taken number one overall in draft