Black Histories in the Eastern Townships Online Exhibition

The Black history of the Eastern Townships is often glossed over by historians and popular understandings of history alike, and yet the Townships have been an important territory for Black history in the Americas. The Eastern Townships Resource Centre proposes a collection of historical snapshots that shed light on important chapters in the Black history of the region, including slavery, the Underground Railroad, blackface minstrel performances, sports cultures, the jazz scenes of the 1920s and 1950s, changes to the linguistic and cultural demographics of the Black population of the Townships in the 1960s and 1970s, and Black activist movements in the Townships today. 

The exhibit was launched with a presentation by curator Dr. Sunita Nigam, a research fellow based in Montreal affiliated with the Performing Archives stream of Hemispheric Encounters (and former SSHRC postdoctoral fellow connected to Canadian Consortium on Performance & Politics in the Americas). Rather than proposing a definitive or “complete” history, Nigam presents Black Histories in the Eastern Townships as an unfinished work that extends an invitation to viewers to continue to fill in the gaps in the collective memory of Black life in the region. As a “Call for Participation,” this exhibit hopes to plant seeds for future conversations, research, activist interventions, and artistic responses.  

The outdoor exhibit was on the Bishop’s University campus in the Quad along the Johnson Building February 2 – March 18, 2022 and the online exhibition can be visited at www.black-histories.com.