The University of Manitoba campuses are located on original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation. More
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, R3T 2N2
UM Black Alliance (UMBA), affiliated with the University of Manitoba, consists of Black students, alumni, staff and faculty.
UMBA was formed to acknowledge and honour the specific history of dispossession, enslavement, segregation, settler colonialism, and related conditions that resulted in a Black presence in Canada.
UMBA:
Emancipation Day commemorates the Abolition of Slavery Act, which became law on August 1, 1834.
UM Black Alliance recognizes and celebrates Emancipation Day. The Abolition of Slavery Act freed more than 800,000 enslaved people of African descent throughout the British Empire, including Canada. Since then, Emancipation Day has been celebrated on or near August 1 each year.
It is an important expression of identity for the Black community, and a reminder of the continuing struggle faced by people of African descent towards a more inclusive, diverse society free of racial discrimination.
It has been 186 years since the Slavery Act was abolished and we are still fighting to dismantle systemic racism embedded in the political, economic and social structure of Canada. We are in a pivotal time for racial justice and over these past weeks and months, much of the world appears to have woken up to this truth too. As author and activist James Baldwin wrote, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced."
Black History Month celebrates, honour’s and remembers the many achievements and important history, people and experiences of Black communities.
