Nalo Hopkinson
Author of Brown Girl in the Ring, Midnight Robber, Skin Folk, Falling in Love with Hominids
Specializes in Speculative Fiction, Magical Realism, Folklore, Afro-Caribbean Culture, Feminism
In this near future, post-apocalyptic Toronto, the wealthy live in the suburbs. In the inner city, government and social structures have disintegrated after a series of riots. “The ones who couldn’t or wouldn’t get out,” use a system of barter, and live under the shadow of crime-lord Rudy and his posse. Ti-Jeanne, a young mother, has begun having visions of the violent deaths of people she encounters, accompanied by childhood songs in her head, and visitations from disturbing creatures like the Jab-Jab, a red stick figure with legs on backward and a face like a grinning African mask. It all ties into the religious rites performed by Ti-Jeanne’s grandmother, Gros-Jeanne, (Mami), a traditional healer who may or may not be an Obeah woman.
Mabel Stark, “Brown Girl in the Ring” Book Review
Marcus Garvey
Political Activist, Orator, Publisher, Entrepreneur, Pan-Africanist.
Founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA) and The Black Star Line.
Garvey proclaimed “black is beautiful” long before it became popular in the 1960s. He wanted African Americans to see themselves as members of a mighty race. “We must canonize our own saints, create our own martyrs, and elevate to positions of fame and honor black men and women who have made their distinct contributions to our racial history.” He encouraged parents to give their children “dolls that look like them to play with and cuddle,” and he did not want black people thinking of themselves in a defeatist way. “I am the equal of any white man; I want you to feel the same way.”
Van Leeuwen “Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association“
Garvey Quotes
“Be as proud of your race today as our fathers were in the days of yore. We have beautiful history, and we shall create another in the future that will astonish the world.”
“What you do today that is worthwhile, inspires others to act at some future time.”
“I know no national boundary where the Negro is concerned. The whole world is my province until Africa is free.”
“Look for me in the whirlwind or the storm.”
“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”
Louise Bennett-Coverley/Miss Lou
Writer, Poet, Educator, Activist, Singer, Comedienne, Actress, Folklorist
Proponent of “nation language”. Advocate for the use of Jamaican Creole in literary expression. Dubbed “Queen of Jamaican Theatre”
Creator of “Ring Ding” (JBC-TV programme for children)
New Scholar – Poem by Miss Lou
Good mahnin, Teacher – ow is yuh?
My name is Sarah Pool.
Dis is fi-me li bwoy Michal
An me just bring him a school.Him bawn one rainy days ma’am, it
Was comin awn to night –
Ugly baby grow pretty fi true,
For dis one was a sight.Him bawn de week when Rufus
Jack-fruit tree did start fi bear,
Is dat same mont Oby pig dead
– But me figat de year.We call him Mi, Mike, Mikey,
Jay, Jakey, Jacob, Jack,
But him right name is Michal Jacob
Alexander Black.No treat him roughs yaw, Teacher;
Him is a sickly chile:
As yuh touch him hard him meck nize –
Some people seh him pwile.Teck time wid him, yaw, Teacher –
If him rude an start fi rave
Dis beat anodder bwoy, an him
Wi frighten an behave.For nuff time when him rude a yard
An woan hear me at all
Ah just beat de bed-poas hard, mah,
An yuh waan fi hear Jack bawl!Now dat yuh know him lickle ways
Louise Bennett-Coverley “New Scholar”
Ah not havin no fear
Dat anyting wi mel him, so
Ah lef him in yuh care.
Sylvia Wynter's Dream 
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