Dr. Afua Cooper rewarded for inspiring artistic contributions
December 14, 2020
Dr. Afua Cooper has left an indelible imprint in every province she has resided.
The Nova Scotia resident since August 2011 was the James Johnston Endowed Chair in Black Canadian Studies at Dalhousie University for six years. The third chair holder developed a minor in Black and African Diaspora Studies that allows students to discover and analyze the history, culture, and sociology of Black Canada and the wider African diaspora.
During that time, Cooper also founded the Black Faculty & Staff Caucus and was instrumental in the creation of the Black Canadian Studies Association summit that provides a platform for scholars and other delegates to reflect, discuss, dialogue and engage with issues critical to the praxis of community, empowerment and leadership in Black Canada.
The award-winning poet, author and historian chaired the ‘Scholarly Panel to Examine Lord Dalhousie’s History on Slavery and Race’ that resulted in Dalhousie University issuing an apology last year to Black Nova Scotians for its founder’s racist actions and views and was Halifax’s Poet Laureate for two years.
Cooper’s commitment to social justice education led to the curation of several exhibits on Black history, slavery and freedom, including ‘Black Halifax: Stories from Here’ which was an online exhibit created in 2015 and hosted by the Delmore ‘Buddy’ Daye Learning Institute.
At the 15th annual Creative Nova Scotia Awards virtual gala in Halifax on November 14, the Dalhousie University Full Professor was rewarded for her inspiring artistic contributions with the prestigious Portia White Prize that recognizes cultural and artistic excellence by individuals who have attained professional status, mastery and recognition in their discipline.
“It’s such a big honour,” said Cooper who has resided in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. “I teach Portia White in my class and to receive an award bearing her name is just phenomenal.”
Raised in Halifax where she sang in the church choir as a child, White won a scholarship in 1939 to attend the Halifax Conservatory of Music and, two years later, made her debut at age 30 in Toronto.
The first Black Canadian concert singer to be acclaimed internationally performed for Queen Elizabeth II in Charlottesville, Prince Edward Island in 1964 before succumbing to cancer four years later in Toronto at age 56.
The theme of this year’s event was ‘Generations’.
“As part of my work that I enjoy as a poet, writer and teacher is to mentor the new generation of artists and scholars who are coming up,” said Cooper who was the Ruth Wynn Woodward Endowed Chair in Simon Fraser University’s Women Studies department.
As a doctoral student at the University of Toronto, she was part of the Black and academic community’s activism that led to the establishment of the James Johnston Chair 24 years ago.
Cooper was a consultant to the Ontario committee set up to commemorate the bicentennial of the abolition of slavery in 2007 and her interest in slavery, abolition and Women Studies led to her doctoral dissertation on anti-slavery crusader Henry Bibb and the publishing of ‘The Hanging of Angelique: The Untold Story of Canadian Slavery and the Burning of Old Montreal’, a national bestseller that was nominated for the 2006 Governor General’s Award.
The Dub Poet Collective co-founder was also the recipient of the 2012 Beacon of Freedom Award for authoring ‘Phillis Wheatley: A Story of Slavery and Freedom’.
Her most recent book, ‘Black Matters’, is a collaboration with photographer Wilfried Raussert.
Cooper translates his photos into poetry, painting a profound image of what disembodied historical facts might look like when they are embodied in contemporary characters. This visual and textual conversation honours the multiple layers of Blackness in the African diaspora around North America and Europe.
Dr. Afua Cooper was the recipient of this year’s Portia White Prize
Marilyn Smulders, the Executive Director of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNA), nominated Cooper for the Portia White Prize.
“Informed by her scholarship, Dr. Cooper’s artistic work is delivered with passion and an unwavering commitment to fairness and equality,” the former Nova Scotia College of Art & Design Director of Communications noted. “Her creative writing brings the experiences of Black Canadians to the fore and her work engages, illuminates, educates and resonates.
“At this time in our history, a time of street checks, police brutality and the anguished cries of ‘I can’t breathe’, her artistic work as a poet, performer, historian, exhibition curator and cultural commentator is critically important as it helps to bring understanding. Her work addresses the very real and unique challenges Black Canadians face, not only throughout history, but today as well. In the face of a pervasive view that anti-Black racism isn’t the problem in Canada that it is in the United States, she doesn’t let Canadians off the hook.”
As the primary recipient, Cooper received $18,000. A secondary recipient, the WFNA, chosen by the primary recipient, was awarded $7,000.
Established 45 years ago to foster creative writing, the organization provides advice and assistance to writers at all stages of their careers.
Smulders said the funds will be used to support the Nova Scotia Poetry Book Award launched this year.
A $500 prize will be awarded biennially for a book of poetry that’s written by a full-time Nova Scotia resident and published or distributed for the first time in Canada in the two years prior to the submission deadline.
“I am so thrilled to be here tonight and to celebrate Afua Cooper who is such an amazing artist,” said Smulders. “But I think what really makes her amazing is that she always shares her spotlight and she always offers a hand up to an artist who is on their way.”
Poet and university professor Dr. George Elliott Clarke was the recipient of the first Portia White Prize awarded in 1998.
Other recipients include Dr. Sylvia Hamilton who formally retired at the end of June from her position as the Rogers Chair of Communications within the School of Journalism at the University of King’s College and Walter Borden who is an accomplished actor, poet and playwright.
