Black Student Activism at McGill: Past, Present, and Future
October 11-14, 1968
McGill hosts the second international Congress for Black Writers. According to a McGill History timeline compiled by SSMU University Affairs, the Congress “brought together intellectuals of African descent to examine, discuss, and debate concerns related to culture and identity. The event was attended by thinkers and activists from Canada, the United States, Africa, and the Caribbean – including C.L.R James, Stokely Carmichael, Miriam Makeba, Rocky Jones, and Walter Rodney.”
September 1991
BSN demands that McGill “establish an African-American history course by [the] next fall and an interdisciplinary Africana studies program within the following year.”
November 1995
The Africana Studies Committee present a vision document to Carmen Miller, the Dean of Arts. Melanie Newton, the political coordinator of BSN, says that she doesn’t “think a serious education at any university in this world can exclude the continent of Africa or peoples of African descent.”
September 23, 1970
The McGill Daily publishes an article regarding the first meeting of the McGill’s Black Students’ Association (BSA). At the meeting, chair Sally Cools says that Black students are “being fucked around left, right, and center at McGill.”
1980-1985
A number of student groups, including the Black Students’ Network (BSN) and the McGill South Africa Committee, advocate for McGill to divest from their holdings in Apartheid South Africa. On November 11, 1985, BSN published an opinion piece in the Daily calling for total divestment. After years of activism, McGill’s Board of Governors voted for divestment in November 1985.
November 3, 2016
BSN hosts the first installment of their annual event, Hair Day. Every year, the organization provides free services from Black hair stylists to members of the McGill community. This year, a number of Black student vendors were also present.
October 2019
BSN announces that they are “working to pass a motion this year through the McGill Senate that would establish several rights that Black students would be entitled to on campus,” according to The McGill Tribune. An online consultation form is available for Black students who would like to be involved in the development of this legislation.
November 2000
BSN proposes a new constitution, which includes a preamble that “refers to James McGill as a slaveowner and notes the socioeconomic disadvantages Blacks face in society.” SSMU rejects the constitution. Members of BSN suggest that “SSMU executive could use some training in racial sensitivity issues.” Amaraki Laryea, SSMU’s Equity Commissioner at the time, says that at McGill, “equity issues are not even a priority and that trickles right down to the SSMU.”
Winter Semester, 2016
Our Shared Spaces (formerly known as Rez Project) launches their race workshop (then known as Race Project), after 11 years of hosting a gender, sexuality, and consent workshop. Jenny Zhang, a Race Project facilitator, said that the workshop was developed “to give everyone a base level of knowledge on these antioppression topics in order to hopefully make [residence] a safer space.”
October 2007
QPIRG and SSMU host the first installation of Culture
Shock, which the Daily described as “a two-week event intended to expand cultural education and exploration at McGill.” Now, Culture Shock is solely hosted by QPIRG and focuses on issues such as border violence and prison abolition.