Celebrating Black History Month In Early Learning Settings – Have You Ever Heard About Mathieu Da Costa?

Recognizing and celebrating the rich and important culture of Black Canadians has been long overdue. In Canada, it wasn’t until 1995 that the Canadian House of Commons officially recognized February as Black History Month in Canada. Thankfully, the dialogue and recognition of Black Canadians had begun much earlier throughout some advanced early learning settings throughout the country, but unfortunately not all.

The challenge regarding our Canadian history or “herstory” has been simply that it is a “story”. Who has been telling the story and what the story has been about is directly disseminated to our children and our society.

Throughout Canadian historical texts over the past century, which have been required reading in Canadian schools, students have become familiar with Samuel de Champlain, the noted explorer who helped shaped early Canada in the 1600’s however, Mathieu Da Costa seemingly was not included in the story. Mathieu Da Costa was a navigator and interpreter of African-Portuguese ancestry who sailed with Samuel de Champlain in 1604, and his multilingual skills assisted with the negotiations of numerous interchanges throughout the Atlantic regions of early Canada but, his story and references to him were seemingly absent from those historical texts.

Fast forward to today’s early learning and child care settings, the importance of including all stories, particularly those from Black Canadians, as well as fiction stories depicting Black characters, is vital to continually advancing and changing the narrative.

Focusing a critical eye on the print material, which is posted on learning centre walls, as well as which books are made available on child care bookshelves, allows us to continue to include the stories of all children and families who are represented. As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has reminded us, we need to recognize the danger of a single story.