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Black History Month
This Black History month, explore events, achievements, and inspirational stories of Black flourishing that continues to shape our university community.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
Making a difference
Read about our students, researchers and alumni who are making a difference.
Other stories
Fixing a patient care communication gap
Creating an equitable health-care system in Canada
Igniting curiosity and interest in STEM
Expanding community connections for Black students to flourish
Discovering Canada’s trailblazing Black accountants
Flourishing through diplomacy and creativity
Student spotlight: Rahima Shokoya
CIBC Inclusion Award for Black students will empower future leaders
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.
Community organizations
- African Caribbean Black Network Waterloo Region
- University of Waterloo Association of Caribbean Students
- BIPOC Graduate Student Collective
- Black Faculty Collective
- Caribbean Canadian Association of Waterloo Region
- Racial Advocacy for Inclusion, Solidarity and Equity (RAISE)
- University of Waterloo Black Association for Student Expression (UWBASE)
- University of Waterloo African Graduate Student Association
- University of Waterloo African Student Association
Taskforces and working groups
- Anti-Racism Taskforce (AARTF) | Office of Advancement
- Anti-Oppression Knowledge Integrators (AOK) working group | Knowledge Integration
- Anti-Racism Taskforce | Department of History
- Anti-Racism Faculty Collective | Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies (RLS)
- President's Anti-Racism Taskforce (PART)
- Equity. Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Working Group | Physchology Department
- Student Success Office and AccessAbility Services Anti-Racism Initiatives (SAARI)
- The Alliance | Athletics and Recreation
Academic programs and courses
Asynchronous training
- Anti-Racism Anti-Oppression Modules | The Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Anti-Racism
Help us grow these lists! Email us your suggestions.