Myseum of Toronto is hosting an online conversation with Cecil Foster, University at Buffalo professor of Africana and American Studies, on Dec. 8 at 7 p.m.
Derailed: The History of Black Railway Porters in Canada
08 Dec 2021 | 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EST
Join our panel and author, Cecil Foster, as we discuss his groundbreaking book "They Call Me George: The Untold Story of The Black Train Porters" which explores the history of Black train porters in defining Canadian History.
Black sleeping car porters' role in Canadian civil rights highlighted in U of A event
Jan 29, 2021
The conversations you never get to hear with DWNTWNWRLD. In this week's episode, we gain inspiration from our special Guest scholar, sociologist, professor, novelist Cecil Foster.
Now open for submissions: CJF Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism
News organizations whose reporting resulted in significant change in their communities are encouraged to apply for the Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism. Two winners are selected annually, one for large media and one for small. This year's deadline is February 19.
Cecil Foster is the keynote speaker during Algoma University’s Black History Month celebrations.
Most of us recognize them from the odd period movie clip, bedecked in their black-and-white uniforms, special caps, and pocket watches; their ever-present, mile-wide smiles. They flit in and out of these shots like shadows: here helping a passenger to climb aboard a train; there serving...
For years, cross-country rail travel was an integral part of Canadian identity, and Black train porters played a central role. But despite their contributions, they were treated like second-class citizens In 1891, a reporter from the New York Sun shadowed porters on the Canadian Pacific Railway...
At the beginning of the 20th century, being a train porter in Canada was the exclusive domain of black men who laboured long hours for miserable pay. Cecil Foster is a journalist and academic whose book, They Call Me George; The Untold Story of Black Train...
On April 26, 1954 a train arrived in Ottawa. Inside one of its cars: a 35-member delegation of the Negro Citizenship Association. In They Call Me George, sociology professor and novelist (Independence) Cecil Foster makes the case that the moment was exceptional, a consequential threshold-crossing episode. The...
During the golden age of North American train travel, sleeping cars often came with porters who would carry your luggage and shine your shoes. Porters were smiling, courteous and unfailingly polite; for the better part of the last century, they were also Black, male, and sometimes...
Typical of books written by the evocative Bajan-Canadian author, Cecil Foster, once you pick up They Call me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada you just cannot put it down. Every Canadian of every ethnicity and walk of life should...
Once, a black work force kept rail travel running smoothly in Canada – and they paved the way for racial justice and economic opportunity for all. How can we remember their sacrifices? Article Link: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-how-black-train-porters-helped-put-canada-on-track/...
It was a unique chapter in Canadian history. The age of rail travel blossomed in the 20th century, and along with it a need for workers aboard the trains to help the passengers, particularly those in the sleeping cars. They were almost exclusively black, and later helped...
...we’re eagerly awaiting February 5 and the Canadian publication of our first 2019 title: Cecil Foster’s They Call Me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada. Foster’s history documents the struggles, both individual and collective, of Black Canadians against the racist policies of their employers and their country. It was their actions, Foster argues, that laid the groundwork for the multicultural nation we know today. Incorporating the author’s own interviews with former porters and outlining the rarely-discussed institutional racism of early Canadian immigration and employment policies, They Call Me George is an indispensable read for the 21st century.
Two of the five jury panel members of Canada’s most prestigious literary award this year have University of Guelph ties. Sociology professor Cecil Foster and alumna Alison Pick were selected to the jury for the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize for excellence in Canadian fiction. Last year,...
Cecil Foster
Journalist. Novelist. Academic.
Cecil Foster is often described as a renaissance man because of his many intellectual interests. He is an author, an academic and a public intellectual. But should you ask him to describe himself he would probably explain that he is a writer who uses many genres to tell stories about the human condition and the struggles by individuals for a better world. These stories might be in the form of his acclaimed fiction or told through his journalism and media commentaries. Or they might be in his award-winning academic writing and teaching. Or they might be in general nonfiction. These stories are about hope and about social justice and freedom. Read More
Most of us recognize them from the odd period movie clip, bedecked in their black-and-white uniforms, special caps, and pocket watches; their ever-present, mile-wide smiles. They flit in and out of these shots like shadows:...
For years, cross-country rail travel was an integral part of Canadian identity, and Black train porters played a central role. But despite their contributions, they were treated like second-class citizens In 1891, a reporter from...
At the beginning of the 20th century, being a train porter in Canada was the exclusive domain of black men who laboured long hours for miserable pay. Cecil Foster is a journalist and academic whose...
On April 26, 1954 a train arrived in Ottawa. Inside one of its cars: a 35-member delegation of the Negro Citizenship Association. In They Call Me George, sociology professor and novelist (Independence) Cecil Foster makes the...
During the golden age of North American train travel, sleeping cars often came with porters who would carry your luggage and shine your shoes. Porters were smiling, courteous and unfailingly polite; for the better part...
Typical of books written by the evocative Bajan-Canadian author, Cecil Foster, once you pick up They Call me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada you just cannot put it...
