
Blacks in Canada
A History
Robin W. Winks(Author)
McGill-Queen's University Press
Published on 15. April 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
584 pages
978-0-2280-0789-0 (ISBN)
Description
Blacks in Canada journeys from the introduction of slavery in 1628 to the first wave of Caribbean immigration in the 1950s and 1960s. Heralded in the Literary Review of Canada as one of the one hundred most important Canadian books, this enduring work by Yale University's Robin W. Winks offers a wealth of information for fresh interpretation.
Now, fifty years from its original printing, this third edition includes a foreword by George Elliott Clarke, E.J. Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at the University of Toronto. Clarke's contribution adds a necessary critical lens through which twenty-first-century readers should view Winks's research. The longevity of Blacks in Canada is due to an impressive array of primary and secondary materials that illuminate the experiences of Black immigrants to Canada. These experiences include the forced migration of enslaved Black people brought to Nova Scotia and the Canadas by Loyalists at the end of the American Revolution, Black refugees who fled to Nova Scotia following the War of 1812, Jamaican Maroons, and fugitive slaves who fled to British North America. The book also highlights Black West Coast businessmen who helped found British Columbia, particularly Victoria, and Black settlement in the prairie provinces.
Crucially, Blacks in Canada investigates the French and English periods of slavery, the abolitionist movement in Canada, and the role played by Canadians in the broader continental antislavery crusade, as well as Canadian adaptations to nineteenth- and twentieth-century racial mores.
Now, fifty years from its original printing, this third edition includes a foreword by George Elliott Clarke, E.J. Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at the University of Toronto. Clarke's contribution adds a necessary critical lens through which twenty-first-century readers should view Winks's research. The longevity of Blacks in Canada is due to an impressive array of primary and secondary materials that illuminate the experiences of Black immigrants to Canada. These experiences include the forced migration of enslaved Black people brought to Nova Scotia and the Canadas by Loyalists at the end of the American Revolution, Black refugees who fled to Nova Scotia following the War of 1812, Jamaican Maroons, and fugitive slaves who fled to British North America. The book also highlights Black West Coast businessmen who helped found British Columbia, particularly Victoria, and Black settlement in the prairie provinces.
Crucially, Blacks in Canada investigates the French and English periods of slavery, the abolitionist movement in Canada, and the role played by Canadians in the broader continental antislavery crusade, as well as Canadian adaptations to nineteenth- and twentieth-century racial mores.
Reviews / Votes
"Winks has laid the lasting structure of the history of Black people in Canada in this monumental work, which will endure as the model against which all future historians of this 'event' must gauge their work." Austin Clarke "No review can do justice to the rich data provided by this book. Blacks in Canada will prove a mine of information to scholars for years to come." August Meier, Journal of American HistoryMore details
Series
Edition
50th Anniversary Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Montreal
Canada
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
Special edition
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 38 mm
Weight
862 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-2280-0789-0 (9780228007890)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
04/2021
McGill-Queen's University Press
€36.99
Available for download
Previous edition

Book
05/2000
2nd Edition
McGill-Queen's University Press
€57.13
Shipment within 10-20 days
Persons
Robin W. Winks (1930-2003) was Randolph W. Townsend Professor of History and chair of the Department of History, Yale University.