The Names You Don’t Hear During Black History Month: 8 years Since Guelph’s #BlackOnCampus Rallies

While the month of November had many students at the University of Guelph counting down the days until winter break and enjoying holiday festivities, November was meaningful for another reason. November 18th marked 8 years since the #BlackOnCampusGuelph protest. This particular protest was one of many held at several post-secondary institutions in Canada and the United States which began as a means of standing in solidarity with those protesting at the University of Missouri. Black students at the University of Missouri began to identify specific concerns associated with the racism occurring on their campus. This included targeted verbal and physical attacks from their peers, as well as unequal academic opportunities and unfair treatment from faculty. Beyond the University of Missouri, some of the issues that students organized against included a string of fatal police shootings of unarmed Black civilians in Canada and the United States.

These protests eventually led to the resignation of the president of the University of Missouri. The student demonstrations in Missouri and at Yale attracted transnational attention. Universities within Canada and the United States showed solidarity via social media using the hashtag #BlackOnCampus, to share stories of injustice. This widespread unity and sharing of experiences encouraged student groups to reflect on the often unseen racism occurring daily on their own university campuses - one such university was the University of Guelph. On November 18, 2015, Black students and their allies presented a list of demands to senior administration which included calls for more courses that explored and celebrated Black Canadian history and culture, more scholarships celebrating Black accomplishments, Black representation within the university's faculty, and greater access to support for racialized students, including the hiring of Black-presenting academic and mental wellness counselors. These demands were met with extreme backlash from White students which included online harassment and violent, degrading, and dehumanizing comments. In order to accurately contextualize the events and backlash responses, it is important to understand the event and the demands made, within the history of the University of Guelph and the wider ongoing struggle for equality within systems of education in Canada.

From as early as the 1920s, records indicate a pattern of racism among the University of Guelph’s founding colleges. One example of the patterns is in the documentation of Robert Pannell, the first Black student to attend the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) in Guelph. Where there is fulsome information recorded about his white colleagues’ achievements and club associations, silence and obscurity define Pannell’s record. Robert Panell has no information listed beyond his date of birth and hometown, which were recorded incorrectly. This is a reflection of the isolation and exclusion faced by the few Black students who had the opportunity to attend post-secondary institutions in the early 1900s. Despite Panell’s unique positionality as the first Black student to attend OVC, it seems as if no one cared to know him. As the only Black student in his class, it leaves us to wonder where he found community and refuge within the racist climate of the time, as it certainly was not available to him through his academic community. His isolation on campus, would have made spaces like British Methodist Episcopal Church, very important to Panell and other Black people generally isolated at that time. The church is still standing today as Heritage Hall, owned by the Guelph Black Heritage Society.

In the 1960s, the OAC recruited many of its students from the Caribbean. Much of what we know from this time period is accredited to interviews with Desmond Doran, BSA (1960) and M.Sc. Agricultural Economics (1961). He explains that “there were only about 100 African Caribbean students out of a student body of 1,100-1,200.” Furthermore, he states that “racial prejudice was an underlying theme. The early 1950s represent[ed] an Ontario and Canada that was vastly different from the multicultural Canada that we have today.” He shares the example of older women asking to touch his hair on the bus. “They had never been in contact with African Caribbean people at all,” he said. “Several of my classmates had never associated with, or perhaps even seen, Black people until they came to Guelph.” Another former OAC student, Denham Jolly, explains in his memoir that Black students were often degraded, dehumanized, and rendered dangerous. He also recounts that one OAC chaplain counseled girls not to go out with Black students. Students were caricatured in the school’s newspaper and Jolly once watched a student drop a cigarette on the floor, and heard another respond “Don’t worry—we’ll get some n****r to clean it up.” Records indicate that racism had been a prominent experience of Black students at the University of Guelph decade after decade. A copy of The O.A.C. Review from February 1890 featured a description of a “minstrel show” in which performers wore blackface makeup and portrayed racial stereotypes for the purpose of “entertainment”. Other records prove that this practice continued until at least 1943. The only other representation of Black lives during this time period is the servitude of Black students to white faculty, there were no highlights of Black Student excellence.

The problematic past makes it vital to acknowledge the strength shown by student activists at the University of Guelph and within the greater community, who have always fought against oppression even before the onset of the #BlackOnCampus movement. In 1968, the Sir George Williams Affair made headlines after students at the University of Montreal stood up against the racist treatment of a professor. Rinaldo Walcott and Idil Abdillahi described the incident as a gift that offers Canada a “window into itself” and serves to change the national narrative surrounding institutionalized racism. Allen Brown, a Guelph resident was among the six Black student activists involved in the 1968 event. Rosie Douglas, who studied at OAC (1960-1962), was also one of the leaders of the anti-racism sit-in, a demonstration that put many Black students’ safety and reputation in jeopardy. These are the names that you don’t hear during Black History Month at the University of Guelph, yet these are some of the people who paved the way for the possibility of student activism such as the #BlackOnCampus rallies, many years later.

In 2015, the #BlackOnCampus rallies showed the extent to which the problem of racism remained a problem at the University of Guelph . Students used social media, Twitter especially, to document their experiences with racism on campus. One post read, “#blackoncampusguelph When someone asks you to touch your hair and you say ‘no’ but they have the audacity to ask ‘why not?’ as they raise their hand to touch your hair.” Another said, “When a total stranger approached me and asked to buy weed #BlackOnCampusGuelph,” followed by, “#blackoncapusguelph means the erasure of black scholars and black lives within the academy.”

Laila El Mugammar, who was a student at the University of Guelph around the time of the #BlackOnCampus rallies wrote an article about the experience of Black students finding a space to house their community and fellowship. She explains that a sign was placed on the door of the Guelph Black Students Association room that read: Please remember to keep the volume low to be mindful of our neighbours THANKS! Laila uses the sign as a metaphor to describe the greater incidence of silencing Black students at Guelph. She explains that due to a history of racism, Black students have been conditioned to take up only the limited space that they have been allowed, while White students have the privilege not to consider their “volume” as they are not held under the same surveillance. She writes, “being #BlackOnCampus in Canada makes me feel straitjacketed. Our diversity is lauded only when it is convenient.” What makes the placement of the sign especially significant is that it shows how heavily policed Black lives always are - even within their single safe space on campus they are monitored. Along with this experience, she also recounts more explicit racism which occurred during orientation week in 2014, in which white students stormed the halls of a residence building dressed like the Ku Klux Klan. With no official record, this violent display of hateful rhetoric, and others like it are often forgotten.

What does all of this mean in 2023? How do we measure progress? Progress is not linear and sometimes that makes it difficult to distinguish. Looking back at the initial requests made by students in 2015, it seems that although change has been minimal, some concerns have been addressed. In the time since these protests, the Cultural Diversity Advisor role was created to, “guide Black and racialized students through their post-secondary career. ” Programming and online resources such as discussion groups, workshops, co-curricular learning experiences, campaigns, and resource materials have also been developed. In 2022, The University of Guelph also launched for the first time, a Black Studies Minor in the College of Arts. On paper, this sounds excellent, and while it is certainly a step in the right direction, implicit racism is still very much a part of the lives of Black students at the University of Guelph. Implicit racism is a form of racism that has the potential to be far more dangerous than explicit displays of prejudice because it often goes unnoticed by those who are not directly impacted. It is systemic in nature and is experienced as discomfort that can be easily dismissed or questioned.

The struggle for equity and diversity is clearly ongoing. The courses in the Black Studies minor are open to all students across the Campus and have great potential to help educate the cohorts who will be entering the workforce in years to come. Students can learn more about the Black community in Canada, their contribution, and ways of being. This should encourage students to become more critical of their own beliefs and behaviours and address implicit prejudice and racism. One of the final course work exercises in BLCK1000, one of the courses in the minor, students were asked to write a parting message to a person in the class who was different from them. We are grateful to one student for sharing her reflection to be included in this piece:

“As a black representative in this class, truthfully, I was shocked and extremely hesitant to share personal struggles with a race that is not my own…Though I am appreciative that there are many people of the Caucasian race in this class who are willing to listen and learn more of a deprived and underrepresented community, I am jealous of the lack of hurt, you have not felt in comparison. There are some classes I feel guilty because I become hesitant towards the Caucasian community. I do not want to feel this way because I don't blame this generation, it is not our fault why things are the way they are regarding race. Many black people experience generational oppression and discomfort, I often wonder is there any generational guilt? This class has made it apparent to me that even though we plead, beg and protest for basic acknowledgment for the black community is growing, there are and always will be higher ups who truly do not care and have no intention of helping, despite the facade they show society. Our constant efforts are overlooked, and this frequently makes me question ‘what am I fighting for?’”

This candid response shows just how much racism is a part of students' lives today, and how the changes made do not necessarily initiate immediate healing. Does this mean we shouldn’t try? Absolutely not, but as a White ally, it is important to recognize the degree of implicit racism and intergenerational trauma that is baked into the spaces that we are a part of.

So, have you been lied to? When they told you how inclusive Guelph was during your open-house tour, was it misguided? Not exactly. With the exception of some cases, for the most part, the racism that is present at the University of Guelph, and post-secondary institutions across the country, is not a product of malicious intent, but rather a symptom of the systemic discrimination present within our settler-colonial nation, and ignorance due to the lack of mainstream attention provided to such issues. To feel that unmistakable Gryphon pride should not come with guilt because Guelph is a great place to be! However, it should come with an appreciation of privilege and an understanding that there is still much work to be done. That pride that you feel when you walk on campus, needs to be used as a form of power that stands up to oppression and fuels the allyship that will continue to make this community - as well as the many other communities that we are a part of - something that we can truly be proud of. As Dr. Hinds Myrie, our Black Canadian Studies professor always taught, understanding the Black experience is not only about understanding history, but understanding how your individual actions influence the present and future. It starts with your language, your conversations, and what you stand for. It starts right here at home. It starts with you.

References

#BlackOnCampus: The Black Presence in Guelph. (2019). Vimeo. Retrieved November 29, 2023, from https://vimeo.com/354241919.

Austin, D. (2023, November 1). David Austin sir George Williams Affair | CBC documentaries. CBCnews. https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/black-life/how-the-1969-sir-george-williams-affair-canada-s-first-major-black-led-student-protest-changed-the-country-1.7009058

Craig, S. (2019, January 7). Showing respect. Showing RESPECT | Ontario Agricultural College. https://www.uoguelph.ca/oac/news/showing-respect

Ferguson, J. (2023, September). BLCK*1000: Introduction to Black Studies in Canada. Lecture, University of Guelph; University of Guelph.

Laila El Mugammar Updated June 3, 2020. (2020, June 5). “keep the volume low:” being black on campus in Canada. Chatelaine. https://chatelaine.com/living/blackoncampus-in-canada/

Supporting the needs of black students. University of Guelph. (n.d.). https://www.uoguelph.ca/studentexperience/supporting-needs-of-black-students/

Abdillahi, I & Walcott, R. (2019). BlackLife: Post-BLM and the Struggle for Freedom. ARP Books (Arbeiter Ring Publishing).