‘We Are Hamilton – Black History Remembered’ unveiled at City Hall

16 Black Hamiltonians were honoured today in a project co-organized by Black-led organizations and the city.

Banners displaying their faces and names are hanging along James Street North and their biographies will be on display at recreation centres, museums, and libraries across the city for the month of February.

The project titled We Are Hamilton – Black History Remembered was unveiled at an event at city hall today.

READ MORE: Hamilton City Hall to hold Black History Month event

“All of the folks that deserve to have that acknowledgement, that have never had it over the years. There’s just a lot of great work that’s been done by so many people, so it’s great to see that we’re honouring those folks on the banners,” Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath said.

Many of the relatives of those honoured in the project are at the event on Monday including the daughter of reverend Robert Foster, a businessman, coach, and pastor who passed away in 2002. “I’m honoured, that he’s being honoured because he helped so many in Hamilton.”

The daughter of Eleanor Rodney, who was a teacher and founder of the African Caribbean Cultural Potpourri was also in attendance, “she had been in Hamilton for a very long time and worked tirelessly at making sure the youth, especially the Black youth in Hamilton knew their history, knew where they were coming from in order to know where they were going.”

Today’s event also featured Black-owned business vendors, performances and multiple speakers young and old who provided a community perspective in shaping Black history.

The banners can be seen along James Street North across from the West Harbour Go station.