In addition to a month-long selection of Black History Month events, our Black Experience Staff Advisory Committee (BESAC) members have recommended a watch list! Check it out!
1. The Black Experience Project
(20 minutes)
Launched in 2010, the Black Experience Project (BEP) is a seminal research study focused on examining the lived experiences of individuals who self-identify as Black and/or of African heritage living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). This video documents the personal stories of identity, strengths, challenges and lived experiences of members in the Black Community across the GTA. The Y is a founding partner.
2. Black Panther - available on Disney+
(2 hours, 15 minutes)
With an all-star collection of majority Black talent both in front of and behind the camera, Black Panther is about more than the latest superhero’s journey; it’s also about Black culture’s journey, and it points towards a future where it could be the culture. It acknowledges and celebrates everything from traditional African society to African-American political debates, from the power and beauty of black women to the preservation of identity, all within the lush confines of the fictional African nation of Wakanda.
3. 50 years of Black Activism in Toronto
(36 minutes)
Five documentaries by five women directors highlight the legacies of Gwen and Lenny Johnston of the Third World Bookstore, Rosie Douglas, Charles Roach, Dudley Laws, and Marlene Green. This film was first featured at the inaugural Akua Benjamin Public Lecture and is part of the “The Fifty Years of Black Activism Project.”
4. Disruptor Conductor
(44 minutes)
As far as Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser knows, there aren’t many Black 2SLGBTQ+ conductors like him in Canada. Growing up, he was drawn to classical music and often turned to it for solace. As an adult, he finally found his voice as a conductor, and now holds a few posts across North America, including one at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, a YMCA of Greater Toronto partner. He believes that the beauty of music can heal and unite all of us beyond differences in race, sexuality, socioeconomic status and gender identity.
5. Motown Magic - available on Netflix
(animated series)
The series follows a Black lead, Ben, “a wide-eyed eight-year-old with a big heart and an amazing imagination,” who uses a magic paintbrush to bring the street art in Motown to life. The program features versions of songs by the popular record label, performed by contemporary recording artists and interwoven into the narrative. The series includes songs by Motown artists like The Jackson 5, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. Fun for parents and kids.
6. The Skin We’re In
(45 minutes)
Urgent, controversial, and undeniably honest, The Skin We’re In is a wake-up call to complacent Canadians. Racism is here. It is everywhere. It is us and we are it. Following celebrated journalist Desmond Cole as he researches his book by the same name, this documentary from acclaimed director Charles Officer pulls back the curtain on racism in Canada.
7. Being Black in Canada
(22 minutes)
To mark Black History Month, Asha Tomlinson hosts Being Black in Canada. The program highlights the work of two Windsor teachers who show their students what’s missing in many of their history books. Asha speaks with Book of Negroes author Lawrence Hill about how the TV mini-series is bringing Canadian Black history to a wider audience and we hear the story of Western Canada’s Black pioneers and how they're preserving their ancestors’ history.
8. Speakers for the Dead
(49 minutes)
A 2000 Canadian documentary by David Sutherland and Jennifer Holness reveals some of the hidden history of Blacks in Canada. In the 1930s in rural Ontario, a farmer buried the tombstones of a Black cemetery to make way for a potato patch. In the 1980s, descendants of the original settlers, Black and white, came together to restore the cemetery, but there were hidden truths no one wanted to discuss.
9. Shadeism
(20 minutes)
Shadeism is an introduction to the issue of shadeism, the discrimination based on skin tone within different communities. This documentary short looks specifically at how it affects people within the African, Caribbean, and South Asian diasporas.
10. Everybody’s Children
(51 minutes)
Monika Delmos's documentary captures a year in the life of two teenage refugees, Joyce and Sallieu, who have left their own countries to make a new life in Ontario. Joyce, 17, left the Democratic Republic of Congo to avoid being forced into prostitution. Sallieu, 16, had witnessed the murder of his mother as a young boy in war-torn Sierra Leone. Delmos shows how the guidance and support of a handful of people make a real difference in the lives of these children.
1. The Black Experience Project
(20 minutes)
Launched in 2010, the Black Experience Project (BEP) is a seminal research study focused on examining the lived experiences of individuals who self-identify as Black and/or of African heritage living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). This video documents the personal stories of identity, strengths, challenges and lived experiences of members in the Black Community across the GTA. The Y is a founding partner.
2. Black Panther - available on Disney+
(2 hours, 15 minutes)
With an all-star collection of majority Black talent both in front of and behind the camera, Black Panther is about more than the latest superhero’s journey; it’s also about Black culture’s journey, and it points towards a future where it could be the culture. It acknowledges and celebrates everything from traditional African society to African-American political debates, from the power and beauty of black women to the preservation of identity, all within the lush confines of the fictional African nation of Wakanda.
3. 50 years of Black Activism in Toronto
(36 minutes)
Five documentaries by five women directors highlight the legacies of Gwen and Lenny Johnston of the Third World Bookstore, Rosie Douglas, Charles Roach, Dudley Laws, and Marlene Green. This film was first featured at the inaugural Akua Benjamin Public Lecture and is part of the “The Fifty Years of Black Activism Project.”
4. Disruptor Conductor
(44 minutes)
As far as Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser knows, there aren’t many Black 2SLGBTQ+ conductors like him in Canada. Growing up, he was drawn to classical music and often turned to it for solace. As an adult, he finally found his voice as a conductor, and now holds a few posts across North America, including one at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, a YMCA of Greater Toronto partner. He believes that the beauty of music can heal and unite all of us beyond differences in race, sexuality, socioeconomic status and gender identity.
5. Motown Magic - available on Netflix
(animated series)
The series follows a Black lead, Ben, “a wide-eyed eight-year-old with a big heart and an amazing imagination,” who uses a magic paintbrush to bring the street art in Motown to life. The program features versions of songs by the popular record label, performed by contemporary recording artists and interwoven into the narrative. The series includes songs by Motown artists like The Jackson 5, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. Fun for parents and kids.
6. The Skin We’re In
(45 minutes)
Urgent, controversial, and undeniably honest, The Skin We’re In is a wake-up call to complacent Canadians. Racism is here. It is everywhere. It is us and we are it. Following celebrated journalist Desmond Cole as he researches his book by the same name, this documentary from acclaimed director Charles Officer pulls back the curtain on racism in Canada.
7. Being Black in Canada
(22 minutes)
To mark Black History Month, Asha Tomlinson hosts Being Black in Canada. The program highlights the work of two Windsor teachers who show their students what’s missing in many of their history books. Asha speaks with Book of Negroes author Lawrence Hill about how the TV mini-series is bringing Canadian Black history to a wider audience and we hear the story of Western Canada’s Black pioneers and how they're preserving their ancestors’ history.
8. Speakers for the Dead
(49 minutes)
A 2000 Canadian documentary by David Sutherland and Jennifer Holness reveals some of the hidden history of Blacks in Canada. In the 1930s in rural Ontario, a farmer buried the tombstones of a Black cemetery to make way for a potato patch. In the 1980s, descendants of the original settlers, Black and white, came together to restore the cemetery, but there were hidden truths no one wanted to discuss.
9. Shadeism
(20 minutes)
Shadeism is an introduction to the issue of shadeism, the discrimination based on skin tone within different communities. This documentary short looks specifically at how it affects people within the African, Caribbean, and South Asian diasporas.
10. Everybody’s Children
(51 minutes)
Monika Delmos's documentary captures a year in the life of two teenage refugees, Joyce and Sallieu, who have left their own countries to make a new life in Ontario. Joyce, 17, left the Democratic Republic of Congo to avoid being forced into prostitution. Sallieu, 16, had witnessed the murder of his mother as a young boy in war-torn Sierra Leone. Delmos shows how the guidance and support of a handful of people make a real difference in the lives of these children.
