The African Canadian Legal Odyssey: Historical Essays

Description

The African Canadian Legal Odyssey explores the history of African Canadians and the law from the era of slavery until the early twenty-first century. This collection demonstrates that the social history of Blacks in Canada has always been inextricably bound to questions of law, and that the role of the law in shaping Black life was often ambiguous and shifted over time. Comprised of eleven engaging chapters, organized both thematically and chronologically, it includes a substantive introduction that provides a synthesis and overview of this complex history. This outstanding collection will appeal to both advanced specialists and undergraduate students and makes an important contribution to an emerging field of scholarly inquiry. Contents Foreword Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: From a Property Right to Citizenship Rights – The African Canadian Legal Odyssey Part One. Legal Pioneers 2. Ethelbert Lionel Cross: Toronto’s First Black Lawyer 3. Constructing an “Imperial Pan- Africanist”: Henry Sylvester Williams as a University Law Student in Canada Part Two. Formal Legal Equality and Anti-Black Discrimination: Case Studies 4. “Bitterly Disappointed” at the Spread of “Colour-Bar Tactics”: Viola Desmond’s Challenge to Racial Segregation, Nova Scotia, 1946 5. Creating the Myth of “Raceless” Justice in the Murder Trial of R. v. Richardson, Sandwich, 1903 6. Maniacal Murderer or Death Dealing Car: The Case of Daniel Perry Sampson, 1933–1935 7. The Law’s Confirmation of Racial Inferiority: Christie v. York 8. Errors of Fact and Law: Race, Space, and Hockey in Christie v. York Part Three. Slavery, Race, and the Burden of History 9. Slavery and Slave Law in the Maritimes 10. The Burden of History: Race, Culture, African-Canadian Subjectivity, and Canadian Law in R. v. Hamilton 11. A Black Day in Court: “Race” and Judging in R. v. R.D.S. Contributors