Donna Paris on In the Black Canada, Lost Black Communities, and Black Canadian History (Full)

Описание: In this full-length interview, Donna Paris sits down with BlackNovaScotia.ca to discuss the origins, evolution, and future of In the Black Canada — a national project documenting Black history through lived experience, family memory, photography, and audio storytelling.

Recorded during a research trip to Halifax, the conversation unfolds across five connected sections:

• Donna’s Nova Scotia roots and the founding of In the Black Canada
• The shift from web series to podcasting and why audio storytelling matters
• The early-1900s Oklahoma migration and Black Prairie settlements
• Erased communities such as Hogan’s Alley and The Bog
• Nova Scotia family history, silence, and the No. 2 Construction Battalion

Along the way, Paris reflects on Africville, intergenerational silence, and why so much Black history remained invisible even to those living beside it. She also discusses her collaboration with street photographer David Zaporozhye, her growing interest in documentary filmmaking, and the responsibility of preserving these stories for future generations.

As Paris puts it: without Black history, there is no Canadian history.