Black History Month

This Black History month, explore events, achievements, and inspirational stories of Black flourishing that continues to shape our university community.

Jump to: Events | Stories | Resources

A message from Vivek Goel, President and Vice-Chancellor

The University of Waterloo is proud to celebrate Black History Month. Black History Month in Canada celebrates the contributions and achievements of Black Canadians and communities. It was officially recognized in 1995 when the House of Commons unanimously adopted a motion introduced by the Honorable Jean Augustine, the first Black Canadian woman elected to Parliament. 

Our institution is committed to fostering and celebrating inclusion and belonging in our community. Throughout the year, we recognize various groups that make up our diverse community. This month, Waterloo’s Black History Month website highlights several inspiring stories. I encourage you to learn more about several students and faculty who are making a positive impact at Waterloo and beyond.  

On the website, you can read about individuals like Chris Wilson (BSc ’21), who is pursuing a Master of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation where he is exploring Black futures and looking how to help organizations support activists and community organizers to advance change.  

PhD student Eugenia Dadzie (BSc ’21,), a 2023 recipient of the Entrepreneurial PhD Fellowship, works alongside her supervisor Trevor Charles to investigate plastics biodegradation, bioplastics production and bacterial genome engineering. Her research has led to a venture called Metacycler Bioinnovations. The start-up uses bacteria to convert food waste to a fully biodegradable biopolymer with properties similar to pertroleum-derived plastics. 

And Oliver Schneider, a professor in the Faculty of Engineering who is leading a unique reconciliation project that incorporates digital oral histories to highlight the experiences of survivors of the Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children within a virtual reality learning experience for secondary school students in Nova Scotia. 

I hope you’ll join me this month to celebrate the achievements and contributions of Black Canadians and their communities to the University and to Canada. 


2025 Black History Month Events

ABC (African, Black, and Caribbean) Chill

February 24 | 7:00 p.m.

Calling all African, Black, and Caribbean students across Renison! Join Renison Don David for an hour of chill conversation, free food, and conversation as we get to know more people across the Renison community.

Learn more on the Renison website

Autofiction/Faction: Death, Temporality, and Collectives in Wole Soyinka’s Political Memoirs

February 24 | 10:00 a.m.

This talk examines Wole Soyinka’s memoir You Must Set Forth at Dawn as autofiction and auto-theory, examining three interrelated thematic modalities and aesthetic executions in the text: Soyinka’s narrative modelling of the social body as a sensorium of common feeling through formal narrative features; his use of an optative elegiac mode within a post-national circum-Atlantic world as a gesture of mourning and rearrangement; and his use of border dialogues to intimate emerging collectives and the global dimensions of the historical transformations affecting Nigeria.

Learn more.

Recipes made Radical: Kitchentales of Survival and Resistance

February 26 | 1:00 p.m.

This talk explores how food serves as a powerful tool of resistance, from the resourceful cooking of enslaved and oppressed peoples to the current and impending food injustice movements that call to questions folks understandings of a tariff and bird flu. Blending activism, and personal storytelling, Radical Recipes highlights the ways in which marginalized communities have used food to preserve identity, sustain resistance, and build collective power.

Learn more.

HIV/AIDS Activism in Africa: Historical Perspectives and Current Challenges

February 25 | 12:00 p.m.

In this talk, Idah Mukuka Nambeya – an internationally-recognized HIV/AIDS activist from Zambia – reflects on the history of African HIV/AIDS activism and the current challenges facing community organizations due to the recent USAID freeze.

Learn more.

Anti-Racism Reads: Black Boys Like Me

February 27 | 12:00 p.m.

Join the Library for their next installment of Anti-Racism Reads, which will feature a conversation with the author Matthew R. Morris about his book Black Boys Like Me: Confrontations with Race, Identity, and Belonging.  

Learn more and register today

Black History Month Fête

February 27 | 6:00 p.m.

The APS Collaborative in partnership with The Black Collective and Black History Studies invites all students, staff, and faculty to join us as we honour the rich history, culture, and contributions of Black communities during our Black History Month Celebration! This vibrant and empowering event will be a night of music, art, dance, and soul food!

Learn more and register on Portal

Queer Film Series: "Pariah"

February 27 | 4:15 p.m.

This screening will feature the film, 'Pariah'.  Reviewers describe Pariah as a powerful coming-of-age story about a Black teenager from Brooklyn as she navigates her identity while balancing family expectations and personal expression.

Learn more and register today

Making a difference

Read about our students, researchers and alumni who are making a difference.

Black History and Anti-Racism Resources

Anti-Racism and Anti-Hate Supports

Our institution is committed to fostering a safe, inclusive, and supportive environment for all community members.

Visit this webpage to learn more about the University of Waterloo's commitments with respect to anti-racism and anti-hate and explore how the University is proactively creating an inclusive post-secondary environment.

Taskforces and working groups

Asynchronous training

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