Reimagining Black Freedom – Beyond Place and Time

Authors

  • Traci Cook University of Toronto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18733/cpi29552

Abstract

In this article, the writings of three prolific writers, Canadian Katherine McKittrick, Canadian-Trinidadian Marlene NourbeSe Philips and American Maya Angelou, intersect at the point of Black liberation and form a singular voice where a reimagined freedom can emerge.

The piece begins with McKittrick’s research of Black geographies and what Black freedom as a destination looks like, by way of a fixed Underground Railroad journey to settlements like Ontario’s Negro Creek Road. It further interrogates and reverses the power dynamic between the European colonizer and Black settler, by engaging with Philip’s novel, Harriet’s Daughter. Here, teen protagonist, Margaret, changes the rules of her Underground Railroad game, making it possible for anybody to be a slave. Finally, these ideas are connected to Angelou’s autobiographical accounts of racism in the Deep South and her poetic expressions of hope and freedom through her writings, Caged Bird and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Author Biography

Traci Cook, University of Toronto

Traci Cook is a doctoral student-researcher at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education(OISE) at the Universtiy of Toronto. She is a public health analyst with  an undergraduate deree int he fine arts from Rider University and a graduate degree from Emory University in the field of education (middle grades classroom instruction). Her doctoral research engages social justice with public health, education and Black feminist thought.

Wave at Rozelle, St. Thomas by Emma Lewis

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Published

2021-08-27

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 1 (2020): "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"

Section

Post Colonial Articles, Poetry, Artwork