Notable figures to celebrate this Black History Month
Each February , individuals across Canada and the United States celebrate Black History Month . Both nations have much to celebrate , and these are just a few of the individuals who have done much to advance the causes of Black people in the United States and Canada .
• Fannie Lou Hamer : The subject of a new biography by historian Keisha N . Blain released in late 2021 , Fannie Lou Hamer rose to prominence during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s in the United
States . Born to sharecropper parents in Sunflower County , Mississippi , in 1919 , Hamer became an activist in 1962 , ultimately providing a powerful voice to a widely underrepresented segment of the African American population fighting for civil rights in the 1960s .
• Viola Davis Desmond : Born in Halifax , Nova Scotia , in 1914 , Viola Davis Desmond took a stand for African Canadians in 1946 when she refused to sit in the balcony at the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow , a section designated for Blacks . Desmond was forcibly removed and arrested and ultimately fined and sentenced to 30 days in jail . She took her case all the way to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia , which upheld the verdict . Desmond passed away in 1965 , but in 2010 the province of Nova Scotia issued an official apology and pardoned her .
• Bayard Rustin : The March on Washington is among the most widely remembered events during the civil rights era in the United States , and Bayard Rustin was one of the event ’ s principle organizers . Rustin , who was candid about his sexuality as a gay man in private , often worked behind the scenes during the Civil Rights Movement , which occurred during a period when homosexuality was still criminalized . Rustin later became a public advocate for gay rights in the 1980s .
• Elijah McCoy : The son of former slaves who had escaped enslavement in Kentucky via the Underground Railroad , Elijah McCoy was born in Colchester , Ontario , in 1844 . Despite his humble origins , McCoy would become an influential inventor and engineer , ultimately holding more than 50 patents in Canada , the United States , France , Austria , Germany , Great Britain , and Russia .
African Americans and African Canadians have contributed much to the United States , Canada and the world .
26 Winter 2022 Thomasville Scene