Trailblazers

Ottawa illustrator, Toronto writer launch children’s book project on Black pioneers

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement after a discouraging experience with a Canadian publisher, Toronto writer Tiyahna Ridleypadmore has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to self-publish a new children’s book about Black history in Canada.

Ridley-padmore spent the last three years researching and writing Trailblazers: The Black Pioneers Who Have Shaped Canada, a collection of stories, written in rhyme, about influential Black Canadians, with illustrations by Ottawa artist Merryl-royce Ndema-moussa.

The book highlights more than 40 trailblazers, ranging from historical figures such as 17th-century explorer Mathieu da Costa, the first documented free Black person to arrive in Canada, to contemporary ones such as Michaëlle Jean, the first Black Governor General of Canada.

The idea began to germinate when Ridley-padmore, a University of Ottawa grad and lifelong bookworm, found out about da Costa, who came to Canada as a member of Samuel de Champlain’s exploring party. He spoke several languages and is believed to have been instrumental in cultivating peaceful relationships with Indigenous Peoples.

“When I heard Mathieu’s story, I’ve got to admit I felt cheated,” Ridley-padmore said in an interview. “I had lived my entire life being the biggest nerd: Reading my textbooks, giving presentations, doing my homework on time, doing well in school – and Mathieu’s name did not show up once.

“Somehow in the middle of the narrative that Canada is this multicultural haven, we’ve written out Black stories and experiences from our history. That launched me into a personal journey of learning, exploring and researching.”

When she decided to turn her research into a book, she put out a call for an illustrator and connected with Ndema-moussa through a mutual friend on social media. A federal public servant who is a self-taught artist on the side – and the devoted dad of an eight-month-old daughter – Ndema-moussa said he saw “the value and importance of the project.

“It’s not something you see often: a book about Black history that focuses on Canada’s Black history,” said the 33-year-old. “I wanted to make sure I was able to put my touch on it, and show the diversity in Black representation.”

Ridley-padmore, who’s in her late 20s, said Ndemamoussa’s work is not only engaging but also brings dignity and personality to the subjects, thanks to his keen eye for skin tones and facial features.

Their next step was to find a publisher. Ridley-padmore submitted the book to several Canadian companies, attracting the interest of one that she declined to name. They went back and forth for a couple of months, but the publisher kept wanting changes.

“It got to the point where it no longer looked like the book we submitted,” she said. “Then we were offered a contract that stated we wouldn’t be consulted in the look and feel of the book. Obviously that felt disempowering.

“It really felt like systemic inequality in the publishing sector,” she continued. “They were essentially telling us that if these Black stories were going to be told, white publishers were going to be the ones to tell them. Black people were discouraged from owning and telling their own stories.”

Then came the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement following the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man in Minneapolis.

“It gave us the strength to pull out from this relationship that didn’t feel right or feel good, and make the decision to self-publish,” Ridley-padmore said. “And since making that decision, even though we have an uphill battle, it feels like an entire weight has lifted and I’m reinvigorated about this project.”

As Black Lives Matter was trending on Twitter, two of the other publishers that Ridley-padmore had approached suddenly got back to her expressing their interest.

“They had never even responded to our initial submission,” she said. “It felt opportunistic, like, when Black Lives Matter is no longer trending, their interest in empowering and uplifting Black stories would dissipate as well. So ultimately we took matters into our own hands.

”This is the type of book I would have wanted for myself and my little sister.”

The goal of the Kickstarter campaign is to raise $10,000 to print and distribute the book this fall. On the first day of crowdfunding, more than 80 per cent of the goal had been achieved.