DR. RALPH AGARD is currently the Director of Human Rights and Equity at Guelph Univ. He was a Board member of the Metropolitan Children’s Aid Society (’84-’90). Dr. Agard founded a national network of Child & Family Services agencies (Harambee Centres Canada) across Canada.
DANIEL BRAITHWAITE was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia in 1919 He of Barbadian parents. His family moved to Toronto in 1927. was a founding member of the following: UNIA, Toronto Negro Citizenship Comm., Library of Black People Literature, Toronto Negro Study Group, Toronto Young Men’s Negro Assoc., The Home Service Assoc. and the Canadian Negro Newspaper.
HENRY BISHOP born in Weymouth Falls, N.S. he was the first Nova Scotian born Black person to graduate from NSCAD with a degree in visual communications. Henry is the Curator of the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia. He was one of the curators of the nationally travelled exhibition “Africville, a Spirit That Lives On” and is presently collaborating a book with Robert Ffrench, “Out of the Past and Into the Future”. Mr. Bishop is married and has three children.
CHARLES BLOCKSON is the Curator of the Blockson Afro Mr. American Collective at Temple Univ. in Philadelphia, Pa. Blockson has travelled extensively to give Black History lectures and speeches. His collection has been amassed from around the world.
BARBARA CARTER is the great-great granddaughter of Josiah Henson and has been curator of the “Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site” in Dresden, Ontario for the past 11 years. Mrs. Carter, the mother of three daughters, strongly endorses telling the rich African-Canadian history of her community.
LYLE KERSEY: was born in Windsor, Ontario and has lived in Toronto since 1950. His Canadian heritage dates back to the 1850’s. A Sociologist by profession, Mr. Kersey teaches mentally challenged adults at the Metropolitan Toronto Association for Community Living. Mr. Kersey’s primary concern is that we get as much oral and written history from the elders in the Canadian Mosaic, so that our children may enjoy the rich heritage which is theirs.
ROSEMARY SADLIER: is a sixth-generation Canadian who has a strong commitment to promoting the significant history and contributions of Black people in Canada. She graduated from York University and the University of Toronto, where she received her Master of Social Work and Bachelor of Education degrees. She is the author of Leading the Way: Black Women in Canada, Harriet Tubman: Her Life in Canada and the United States and Mary Ann Shadd. Rosemary lives in Toronto, is married to Dr. Jay Carey and has three children. She has been the President of the Ontario Black History Society since 1993.
RAYMOND H. SMITH: was born in Toronto, Ontario. He is married and has two children. He was educated at Central Technical High School in Toronto and attended the Eastern Michigan University He is an Independent Insurance Adjuster who specializes in Liability He would like to see all African Canadians become members of Ontario Black History Society regardless of their affiliation or background because “your history is our history”. Mr. Smith is the Treasurer of the Ontario Black History Society.
AILEEN WILLIAMS: was born in Toronto, Ontario. Her family tree goes back to the Eddy Family of the Oro Township Settlement. A graduate of Northern Secondary, she majored in business administration at McMaster University. Aileen worked on the four member Steering Committee of the First Congress of Black Women in Canada held in 1973. More recently she was one of a three person committee compiling the written history of the Canadian Negro Women’s Association Inc. Aileen is the Vice President and works as a volunteer at the Ontario Black History Society. She is committed to the ongoing success of the Society.
