Rethinking Memorialization: Absence, Architecture, and the Ethics of Remembrance
Figure 1. Research Team member, Gabriela Sealy, reading a children’s book at the Amherstburg Freedom Museum. Photo by Blessing Ogunyemi, taken at Amherstburg, Ontario, October 2024.
Black History Month is more than a celebration; it is a call to action—a time to critically engage with the past and interrogate how history is preserved, distorted, or erased. It is an invitation to challenge passive memory and demand intentional, dynamic remembrance. More than honouring those who came before us, it demands that we examine the mechanisms of memory itself: How do we choose to remember? What narratives do we elevate, and what fades into obscurity? Most crucially, how do we ensure that commemoration is not merely symbolic but transformative?
Harriet Tubman’s legacy offers a compelling lens to explore these questions. Her life and achievements are commemorated across various mediums—on currency, in film, and through architecture—each serving as an attempt to solidify her presence in cultural memory. And yet, these gestures, while powerful, often raise deeper questions: What do we remember, and what is conveniently forgotten? The erasure of her home in St. Catharines, a physical landmark of her time in Canada, exposes a void that demands reflection. What does the disappearance of such spaces reveal about how we value historical memory?
Prof. Lorne Foster, York Research Chair in Black Canadian Studies & Human Rights, discusses the socio-cultural and political impact of Black History Month, emphasizing its relevance, representation, and the importance of teaching Black history.