There is an iconic Canadian image that many remember but most know very little about. It shows a blizzard of computer cards (remember those?) pouring out the windows of the Computer Centre of Sir George Williams College in downtown Montreal in the winter of 1969. Those millions of lost cards and a roomful of destroyed computer equipment worth about $2 million were the physical manifestations of a 14-day protest by black students who felt that their claims of racism against one of the SGW faculty were being ignored. Taking part in the protest were famous figures such as Anne Cools, now a Canadian senator, and the late Roosevelt (“Rosie”) Douglas, who went on to become the prime minister of Dominica. Fear of a Black Nation: Race, Sex and Security in Sixties Montreal, a new book by David Austin, revisits this unique and unsettling story and paints a portrait of the intellectual elite of Montreal’s black community who spearheaded the protest.
The 1960s was a...
Frances Henry, professor emerita of anthropology at York University, has written and edited many books on racism in Canada, including four editions of The Colour of Democracy: Racism in Canadian Society (Nelson, 2009). Her most recent volume is Racism in the Canadian University: Demanding Social Justice, Inclusion and Equity (University of Toronto Press, 2009).
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