Our Lives: Canada's First Black Women's Newspaper

Our Lives: Canada's First Black Women's Newspaper was the first newspaper in Canada written by and about Black women.[1] Founded in 1986 by the Black Women's Collective, Our Lives sought to represent the lives, achievements, and struggles of Black women in Canada.[2]

"Our Lives" redirects here. For the song by The Calling, see Our Lives (song).
Our Lives: Canada's First Black Women's Newspaper
Founder(s)
PublisherBlack Women's Collective
Founded1986
Political alignmentBlack feminist, left
LanguageEnglish
Ceased publication1989
HeadquartersToronto, Canada
Free online archivesRise Up! Feminist Archive

Background

The Black press and anti-Black racism in print

Black activism in print in Canada began with anti-enslavement publications such as The Provincial Freeman that sought to counter the anti-Black racism prevalent in the Canadian press.[3] Our Lives cultivated this history by “create[ing] a free space, a place where [they] can talk as sisters”, and analyze their experiences with institutional racism, gendered racism, and anti-Black violence.[4] This dedication to Black women representation was part of a broader movement in the 1980s that centered "Black women's experiences, writings, and cultural production...to validate the lives of these women...and ...make them visible to the wider public".[5]

Racial uplift and Black consciousness

Our Lives was situated in a period of heightened racial unrest that produced actions like the Sir George Williams and Yonge Street uprisings.[6] They spoke, and contributed, to this moment by celebrating Black womanhood and by honouring Black women revolutionaries such as Marie Joseph Angelique, Harriet Tubman, and Anne Cools.[4]

See also

References
  1. "Our Lives: Canada's First Black Women's Newspaper – Rise Up! Feminist Digital Archive". riseupfeministarchive.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  2. Lobo, Rachel (2019). "Archive as Prefigurative Space: Our Lives and Black Feminism in Canada". Archivaria. 87: 68–86. ProQuest 2518871875 – via ProQuest.
  3. Silverman, Jason; Bellavance, Marcel; Rudin, Ronald (1984-12-01). ""'We Shall Be Heard!"; The Development of the Fugitive Slave Press in Canada". Canadian Historical Review. 65 (4): 54–63. doi:10.3138/chr-065-notes – via Project Muse.
  4. "Our Lives – Vol. 2, Issue 1 – March/April 1987 – Rise Up! Feminist Digital Archive". riseupfeministarchive.ca. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
  5. Wallace, Belinda Deneen (December 2020). "Our Lives: Scribal Activism, Intimacy, and Black Lesbian Visibility in 1980s Canada". Journal of Canadian Studies. 54 (2–3): 334–359. doi:10.3138/jcs-2019-0035. S2CID 234545699.
  6. Brand, Dionne (1998). "Notes for Looking Thru Race". Bread out of Stone. Toronto: Vintage Canada.
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