Category Archives: RNSHS Public Lectures

Wed., December 8, 2021, 7:00 pm (Atlantic), via Zoom

Judith Fingard

Abstract: The contribution to the black community in Halifax of two girls named Blanche was recognized in the April 1915 issue of the short-lived Atlantic Advocate. Blanche Roache was identified as “the first coloured young lady to enter the Conservatory of Music” and, the reporter noted, by “a singular coincidence, Miss Roache’s mother…was the first coloured lady to enter the Halifax Academy,” the city’s public high school. This paper explores some features of these ‘firsts.’

Click here for a bio of Judith Fingard

Wed., November 17, 2021, 7:00 pm (Atlantic), via Zoom

Steven Schwinghamer: Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21

Abstract: Pier 2 was the busiest historical immigration site in Halifax, serving the Atlantic passenger trade during the peak years of Canadian immigration before the First World War. Despite this significance, Pier 2 is invisible or distorted in public and academic histories. Exploring the development of the immigration sheds at Pier 2 illuminates the state of the port and city of Halifax, and of Canada’s immigration system, during a transformative period in Canadian history.

Click here for a bio of Steven Schwinghamer

Wed., October 20, 2021, 7:00 pm (Atlantic), via Zoom

Paul Armstrong: Maritime Institute for Civil Society

Abstract: The recovery of the late 19th century Church maps, and the genealogy related to them, exposes the particularities of a different form of life, now lying in a road not travelled. In this talk, Paul Armstrong will discuss the significance of the maps and offer a defence for the value of parochialism.

Click here for a bio of Paul Armstrong

Wed., September 15, 2021, 7:00 pm (Atlantic), via Zoom

Wade Pfaff: Cape Breton University

Abstract: Eastern Canada has contributed many talented Black jazz musicians to the stages and pages of music history. This presentation highlights a few ground-breakers and Black influencers from the prewar period, the heyday of Jazz. In our collective subconscious, Black music and dance inspires African Canadians to strive for greatness and unite under the banner of music culture. Often controversial and political, Black music culture is a tangible manifestation of spiritual freedom and an invaluable outlet for Black Canadians to express their selfhood and boundless creativity.

Click here for a bio of Wade Pfaff

Wednesday, May 19, 2021, 7:00 pm (ADT), via Zoom 

Afua Cooper Professor of Black and African Diaspora Studies, Dalhousie University 

Abstract: Afua Cooper examines the correspondence between Lieutenant Governor Dalhousie and the Earl of Bathurst, administrator of Britain’s colonies. Setting the historical context of slavery, war, and settlement, Cooper shows how the letters reveal Dalhousie’s biases. His prejudices contributed to the cruel and unjust treatment of one of Nova Scotia’s founding Black communities, people who had escaped enslavement on American plantations for freedom with the British during the War of 1812.

Click here for a bio of Afua Cooper

Wednesday, April 21, 2021, 7:00 pm (ADT), via Zoom

Laurie Glenn Norris
Abstract: Laurie Glenn Norris draws from letters discovered in the Amos Thomas Seaman House, Minudie, Nova Scotia, to examine the lives and experiences of Mary and Jennie Seaman, granddaughters of Amos “King” Seaman, both of whom married Methodist Church ministers.   

Click here for a bio of Laurie Glenn Norris

Wednesday, March 17, 2021, 7:00 pm (AST), via Zoom

Grace McNutt
MA, Atlantic Canadian Studies, Saint Mary’s University

Abstract: Oppression in the Shadows is a comprehensive political history that traces the history of Nova Scotia’s Department of Indian Affairs, from its earliest British colonial origins to the Centralization Policies of the 1940s. Revealed by this research is importance of region to the experience of the Mi’kmaq.

Click here for a bio of Grace McNutt

Wednesday, February 17, 2021, 7:00 pm (AST), via Zoom

Jennifer Brady
Registered Dietitian and Assistant Professor, Mount Saint Vincent University
Lindsey MacCallum
Scholarly Publishing Librarian, Mount Saint Vincent University

Abstract: Through their training, education, and work in communities, home economists led women’s earliest efforts to politicize domestic work and social issues that shaped the everyday lives of women and their families, such as public sanitation and education, women’s rights, food security and sustainability, and fair labour practices. Dr. Brady and Ms. MacCallum will discuss the development, experiences, and stereotypes faced by women in post-secondary home economics programs in Nova Scotia through a critical analysis of archival documents and oral history interviews of former students, staff, and faculty of those very programs.

Click here for bios of Lindsey MacCallum and Jennifer Brady

Wednesday, January 20, 2021, 7:00 pm (AST), via Zoom

Sawyer Carnegie MA Candidate, Atlantic Canada Studies Program, Saint Mary’s University 

Abstract: Nova Scotia has a Black Press tradition that dates back to 1915. Sawyer Carnegie will provide an overview of this tradition, while exploring connections between the Black Press and Black activism throughout the 20th century. She highlights The Clarion and publications by the Black United Front.

Click here for a bio of Sawyer Carnegie