April 6, 2023 (10am to 12 noon)
Deirdre will explain what the Underground Railroad was and how it operated. She will discuss the black communities that resulted from Black Freedom Seekers and their allies in Southwestern Ontario by profiling select Black communities as examples. This discussion of settlement will also include the Black community’s activist efforts to end slavery in the United States and to earn equal rights on Canadian soil.
Deirdre McCorkindale is a historian interested in the history of Race in North America with a focus on the African Canadian and African American Experience. Her current research concerns the history of intelligence testing in North America focusing on a racial intelligence study preformed in southwestern Ontario in the 1930s. Deirdre has appeared in several documentaries talking about the Black history of Ontario specifically the Chatham Kent region and is a proud member and consultant for the Chatham Kent Black Historical Society.
