Okay. So, I feel like I have to start this post with a defence of my affection for movie soundtrack albums. There are certain music puritans out there who may scoff at my love for listening to a good ol’ fashioned film soundtrack. To them I say, this post is not for you. Don’t worry about it. Just go on with your high horse on your way to the pretentious music fair. We don’t need you here anyway. The truth is that I grew up on soundtrack CDs. I used to listen to them over and over. The classics, you know? Like, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Rugrats in Paris. Hand-me-downs from my mom: the Banditssoundtrack and the IMAX nature documentary for which Sting did the music (The Living Sea). An eclectic mix, I know. I want to bring back the practice of listening to soundtrack albums in their entirety. Of course, the music has to justify the commitment. That’s not always the case. But when it does, man. It’s a beautiful thing. I’ve scoured the music available both as physical CDs in our collection and as streaming content on our digital platforms — looking for gems. These are my finds. I encourage you to either give these items a gander or explore for yourself. If you’re someone trying to avoid streaming platforms like Spotify or Apple Music, there’s a lot of media available on Hoopla and in our catalogue.
I’m back for part two of miscellaneous Black history in Canada. As we get ready for Black History Month at VPL, I’m returning to little-known and often overlooked figures in our nation’s past, as well as its present. If you stick around till the end of the blog post, I’ll be sharing upcoming library program details for the month of February as well. We have some exciting and intriguing sessions on offer this year. So, stay tuned. Of course, as us library folk are wont to do, we’ve prepared recommended reads lists in the spirit of the month too (did that rhyme?). They’ll be at the end of the post also. I hope, amongst our many offerings, you find a book, film, or resource that aids in critical learning or discovery of Black authors and stories. I truly believe that Black history is moving into the spotlight of historical discourse, but it has spent far too long out of that light. If we all continue to learn and to seek out knowledge and stories with which we’re unfamiliar — a vital part of being an anti-racist ally — we can change that. One historical figure I had not heard about before doing research for this post was civil rights activist Hugh Burnett. In a small town southwest of London, Ontario called Dresden, Burnett and other activists relentlessly targeted restaurant owners who were refusing to serve Black people in the area. As a leader in the National Unity Association (NUA), his efforts and those of others in the association directly influenced key pieces of provincial civil rights legislation. Appealing to the town’s council and — when that failed — the provincial government, they steadfastly lobbied for things to change. And they did. Starting with the Fair Employment Practices Act (1951), and then the Fair Accommodation Practices Act (1954). These were significant provincial laws that protected Ontario citizens from discrimination based on ‘race, creed, colour, nationality, ancestry or place of origin.’ I think there remains a misconception that civil rights were enshrined in law much earlier and much more peacefully here than they were in the US. Advances in equality were similarly hard won in Canada by brave leaders of the movement. Bromley Armstrong is another such brave leader. After the passage of the Fair Accommodation Practices Act (1954), restaurants were still denying service to Black people in Dresden. Along with Ruth Lor Malloy (Chinese Canadian student at U of T and influential activist in her own right), Armstrong caught the owner of the local Kay’s Café refusing to serve them. The two were recruited to the operation because they were out-of-towners — unfamiliar to eatery proprietors who would close up shop as soon as they spotted local activists. Not so coincidentally, Toronto press were in the cafe. The story blew up. Finally, the Ontario government prosecuted the cafe owner. As monumental as that moment was, the owner Morley McKay would appeal a guilty verdict and win. It would take another such case before the guilty decision would stick and McKay would have to pay the associated fine.
I am not so deluded as to think that the majority of people turn to a nice, juicy, critical analysis of a real-life topic in the form of a full-length film on a Friday night. I’m probably in the (very cool, very sophisticated) minority with my love of a good documentary. It’s pretty rare for me to find someone who shares my appreciation for a good talking head. (Not to be confused with the iconic David Byrne band). I have a friend who is my twin in many ways. In fact, we refer to each other as “my twin.” We once spent a night eating tacos, playing Dance, Dance, Revolution, and watching a cult documentary. The classic documentary structure is so ingrained in us that we don’t even notice it anymore. The lower thirds, the montages, the expert talking heads/family members/witnesses/celebrities. Of course, some documentaries do it better than others. The choice of subject is important, to start with. The ones that captivate my attention foray into a completely unexplored topic. Sure, I’ll catch the odd true crime documentary that’s trodding over familiar territory, but those ones have their own, unique appeal. In general, I want to know something I’ve never known before. The following documentaries are in our physical collection or we provide access to them through the Kanopy streaming app. They might not be the most flashy or spectacle-driven media in existence, but if you give one a chance, it might just prompt you to do your own deep dive into the granular detail of reality.
