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At the OISE Library on Jan. 27, every seat was filled, every attendant listening with intention, every word of insight imbued with meaning.

For the second time, Black educators held space for the Black Education Symposium, hosted by the Centre for Black Studies in Education (CBSE), brought together faculty, educators, students, and community members – lending another opportunity to centre, and reflect on, Black experiences and research. 

Under the theme “Affirming Blackness in Academia: Past, Present & Future[SS2] ,” the summit was a day of Black-centred reflection, celebration, and forward thinking. It was a vibrant day, featuring panel discussions with OISE faculty, students, alumni, and community members, a book launch, and the unveiling of the Ubuntu Fund, which will support six ongoing projects at the CBSE.

Dr. Andrew B. Campbell, CBSE director and instructor in OISE’s Master of Teaching program, said he was excited about this year’s programming, building on the success of last year’s inaugural summit that drew hundreds of visitors to OISE. He was intentional about this year’s panels, working to bring in a variety of faculty, student, and community voices. 

“One of the pieces of feedback we got last year was just about the space and the joy people felt,” said Campbell, in advance of the symposium. “The conversations were so amazing. People met people that they've only seen in books and on screen. That community building, physically in person, has been amazing.”

For Dr. Campbell, to navigate one’s identity and related research is a skill that needs honing and hopes that this symposium was a chance to go deeper. 

“One word that is all over the program is the word affirmation,” he said. “Of blackness, we have to get into the spaces and provide a space where when people are affirmed, they are bolder, they are braver – where they are more settled, more inspired, more energized. 

“I think that is what we teach them apart from navigation, is how to affirm yourself so you can do your work.”

Crucial conversations rooted in community

Each panel – one about Black Canadian Studies in higher education, one focused on affirming Blackness in academia through research, and one about freedom dreaming –

The first morning panel, moderated by Assistant Professor Qui Alexander, was a poignant discussion about Black Canadian Studies – its importance in understanding the role of Black-identified people and their experiences in Canadian history, politics, and culture writ large. 

“Oftentimes our experiences, those histories, get eclipsed by the African American experience,” said Dr. Temitope Adefarakan, in her opening remarks. “It's not that it's not relevant – because it is. But, there's a long history of Black Canadians being here for over 400 years, and we need to know about that.”

Dr. Andrew Allen, an OISE alum and faculty at the University of Windsor, added, “Black Canadian Studies, as defined by Dr. George JS Dei – an acclaimed scholar and professor in OISE’s Department of Social Justice Education – is a process of naming, claiming, reclaiming, reimagining Black Canadian identity as a political act.

“Personally, I'm African by ancestry, Caribbean by birth, racialized as Black, and I'm Canadian by any other agreement. That grounds me in the work that I do and who I am, and I try to locate myself and define my positionality in my writing professionally.” 

Dr. Ann Lopez, who also featured on this panel, spoke passionately about the process of unlearning and relearning the colonial education received in Canada – to improve how Black Studies is learned, developed, and taught. 

“How are we doing that [unlearned and relearning] and when we're doing that, another question that we must ask is, are we truly drawing on epistemology, or are we just engaging in this performative whitewashing to please white supremacy?” she said.

The second panel, about affirming Blackness, was grounded in the notion that research isn’t neutral, and that Black education research can affirm Black life – especially in how research is mobilized, says OISE alumna Tanitiã Munroe. 

“For this panel, we're inviting everyone to think critically about how that knowledge is produced, affirmed and protected in academia across time and across disciplines,” said Munroe, who earned her PhD in 2025. “For myself and the work that I do, I know that research has often been a site of exclusion for black communities, but it has also been a site of resistance.

“Today's conversation brings together others and educators to explore how research can confirm black lives, not only through what we study, but through how we teach, how we learn, and how knowledge is shared and mobilized.

Munroe was joined on stage by a variety of thinkers with diverse experiences, including Mohamed Rage, a Master of Teaching student and graduate assistant of the Black Future Educators’ Program Pathway (BFEP). When asked what “affirming Blackness in academia through research” means to them, personally and professionally, Rage drew on his experiences as a homeschooled child and questioned which forms of knowledges are considered legitimate. 

“These ways of learning were deeply formative for me, and yet they're often invisible or devalued inform academic spaces in schools and universities, I find that there's so much red tape about who can speak in schools and what they're allowed to say, and I feel like that's a powerful message to students about whose voice matters and what knowledge counts.”

The final panel set the course ahead for Blackness. Moderated by OISE doctoral candidate Kai Butterfield, the discussion explored the importance of freedom dreaming for Black students – a term coined by Black scholar Robin D.G. Kelley.

“Kelley tells us that the political will of the people emerges not only from our experience and oppression, but also “our dreams of a new world, radically different from the one we inherited,” said Butterfield, in her opening remarks. “Over the last decade, Kelley's theory has been incredibly generative for teacher researchers, for educators.”

The conversation explored, among many things, how to dream in these challenging times, and how educators can affirm students and give them the room to grow and succeed. 

Rasulan Hoppie, superintendent of education at Peel District School Board, responding to a question about what it takes to create a dream for Black students, said it is about memory and strategy. Despite institutions practicing historical amnesia and implementing systems that downplay Black experiences and insights, “we have dreamed in spite of scarcity, surveillance and lowered expectations,” he says. 

“Freedom dreaming then is an act of choosing imagination over inevitability,” says Hoppie, a superintendent of education at the Peel District School Board. “Freedom is not comfortable work. It unsettles power, it disrupts dominant narratives and requires those in leadership to be willing to unwind, to listen deeply, and at times, to step aside. 

Dr. Andrew Allen is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Windsor. Dr. Allen is the Director of the Joint PhD program in Educational Studies in partnership with the Faculties of Education at Brock and Lakehead Universities and the University of Windsor. He was previously the university's Anti-Racism Pedagogies Teaching Leadership Chair – one of the first of its kind in Canada. He is a former elementary classroom teacher in the North York board and TDSB. 

Dr. Ann E. Lopez is a Jamaican-born professor of Educational Leadership and Policy at OISE, and Director of the Centre for Leadership and Diversity and Special Advisor to the Dean on School and Community Partnerships. She is an author, speaker, mentor, advisor, and researcher who advocates for embedding equitable, antiracist, and decolonial praxis in all aspects education and schooling – teaching, learning, and leading.

Dr. Temitope Adefarakan is Assistant Professor of Black Canadian Studies, Teaching Stream. She is cross-appointed at University College in the Canadian Studies Program, and the U of T Transitional Year Programme. She holds a PhD in collaborative studies in Sociology and Equity Studies at OISE and the Women and Gender Studies Institute of the University of Toronto. She uses a decolonial and equity-centered approach in her teaching, which is grounded in Black feminist and African Indigenous critical social theory. 

Panel 2: Affirming Blackness in Academia Through Research

The moderator, Dr. Tanitiã Munroe is a Black studies scholar, community-engaged researcher, and equity leader whose work bridges academic inquiry and transformative practice in K-12 education. Her research explores Canadian education policy, Black family engagement in schools, the role of Black women who mother in education, Black cultural capital, and post-secondary education access for Black students. Across her scholarship and applied work, she centres the lived experiences, knowledge, and advocacy of Black students and families as foundational to building just and caring education systems. She recently completed her PhD in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education.

Dr. Leland Harper is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Siena Heights University in Michigan, where he also directs the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion certificate program. His current research is focused on the sociopolitical consequences of Black linguistic nonconformity in North America. He is the author of Multiverse Deism: Shifting Perspectives of God and the World, co-author of Racist, Not Racist, Antiracist: Language and the Dynamic Disaster of American Racism, editor of The Crisis of American Democracy: Essays on a Failing Institution  and Into the Fire: The Intersection of Race and Communication. 

Dr. Stephanie Fearon, an OISE alumna, is the inaugural assistant professor of Black Thriving and Education at York University. Her research draws on Black storytelling traditions to explore the ways that Black mothers and educational institutions partner to support Black student well-being. Fearon uses literary and visual arts to communicate – in a structured, creative and accessible form. Her publications have appeared in several scholarly journals, including Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education, Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie, Journal of Canadian Studies, and Journal of African American Women and Girls in Education.

Mohamed Rage is a Master of Teaching student at the 91ֱ�� and a Graduate Assistant with the Black Future Educators Pathway (BFEP). His work is rooted i n community, care, and the belief that schools should be places where every student feels a sense of belonging. His current research focuses on the educational experiences of African refugee students in Ontario, exploring how schools can better support their academic, social, and emotional transitions. Mohamed contributes to mentorship programming, anti-racism initiatives, and academic projects that honour racialized student and educator voices. Guided by lived experience and collective responsibility, he is committed to helping build educational spaces where students not only learn, but feel held.

Dr. Darren Hamilton, an OISE alumni, is an assistant professor of music education at the University of Toronto and a former Peel District School Board secondary music teacher. Dr. Hamilton is also the founding director of the University of Toronto Faculty of Music Gospel Choir. Since its inception in 2019, the curricular gospel ensemble has been featured in a CBC radio documentary, has performed at the 2024 TD Toronto Jazz Festival, and most recently, released its debut single recording, "Do You See Them?" in November 2025, co-composed, co-produced, co-arranged, and executive produced by Dr. Hamilton.

Panel 3: Freedom Dreaming for Black Futures

The moderator, Kai Butterfield is an artist, Ontario Certified Teacher, and doctoral candidate in the Department of Social Justice Education at OISE. Their doctoral study employs Black Feminist Hauntology as method to examine the impact of the transatlantic slave trade's enduring logics on restorative justice theory. The study offers an analytical framework for assessing the ways that seemingly progressive justice-making approaches reproduce antiblackness. It calls for a capacious understanding of justice that transcends notions of subjecthood, humanity, and relationality that are bound up in the logics of slavery.

Dr. Marie Green is an Ontario Certified Teacher (OCT) who teaches history and law at the Intermediate/Senior level. She teaches Religious Education, Anti-Discriminatory Education and Educational Research at the OISE’s Master of Teaching program. Prior to joining OISE, she taught "Black Lives Matter in the Classroom" and "Faith Development Across the Lifespan" at the University of St. Michael's College Faculty of Theology. She completed her undergraduate degree in history at Carleton University. She holds a Master of Theology from Wycliffe College, University of Toronto, and a Master of Science in Adolescence Education from D'Youville College.

Rasulan "Q" Hoppie currently serves  as a Superintendent of Education in the Peel District School Board. Prior to this, Hoppie was Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment and Continuing & Adult Education and he empowered educators to create culturally relevant and responsive learning environments for students to reach their full potential. Rasulan is currently pursuing his PhD in Education.

Shelly-Ann Skinner is a multi-award-winning educator, consultant, and the visionary Founder of UPlift Black. With over two decades of experience fostering community growth and economic development for marginalized voices, Shelly-Ann has dedicated their career to creating inclusive opportunities. This missionled to the establishment of the UPlift Black Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion in Barrie-the first facility of its kind in Simcoe County. This landmark hub serves as a creative sanctuary and studio designed to empower Black artists, creatives, and entrepreneurs

Rochelle Matthews is an equity resource teacher at the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Her teaching practice is rooted in culturally and historically responsive pedagogy. She specializes in designing anti-racist and anti-oppression workshops and resources for teachers and administrators.