As the founding director of the NBGN I am writing this year’s annual report, marking the end of my term as director of the network. I am tremendously proud of the work we have done in creating and growing the NBGN together over the past five years and am excited that it will now be permanently based at OISE’s Centre for Black Studies in Education (CBSE).
I am especially grateful to the PhD students who have worked with me as Graduate Assistant members of the NBGN leadership team and have directly shaped its current form and futures: Cherie Daniel (OISE, UofT), Julian Kapfumvuti (MUN), Jamilah Dei-Sharpe (Concordia), Festus Ajayi (MUN), marcus singleton (OISE, UofT), Aayah Amir (OISE, UofT), Danielle Cantave (OISE, UofT), and Emmanuel Rutayisire (OISE, UofT). I’d also be remiss not to acknowledge my colleague Dr. OmiSoore Dryden, with whom I served as co-president of the Black Canadian Studies Association from 2019-2021. Dr. Dryden was my key interlocutor in developing the idea for a national network for black grad students, and it was with generous funding support from Dr. Dryden in her role as James R. Johnston Endowed Chair in Black Canadian Studies that we were able to develop the NBGN website as an interactive site for online networking and sharing of knowledge.
The NBGN now enters a new era, with a new home base (and physical work space!) at the Centre for Black Studies in Education, under the guidance of the CBSE director (currently Dr. Andrew B. Campbell). We close the year with over 275 NBGN registered members, representing graduate students from at least 28 different universities across the country. Future leadership teams will continue to be composed of graduate student GAs at OISE dedicated to facilitating and engaging in communication and collaboration among a new generation of black scholars and scholars of black studies in Canada. The NBGN is and always has been a network run by and for black graduate students, and I hope that all members will commit to ongoing and increased participation in the coming years.
With care and solidarity always,
rosalind hampton, July 2025
2024-2025 Leadership Team and Activities
Emmanuel Rutayisire and Danielle Cantave, both PhD formed this year’s leadership team. They opened the year with a burst of activity, bringing their own style and flare to the network as two highly artistic students of black studies.
While GAs usually run the network collaboratively throughout their term, unforeseen circumstances, Danielle took the lead in the fall semester, and Emmanuel did so in the winter.
Working in conversation with Emmanuel, Danielle used her incredible design and research skills to produce a series of newsletters in the fall semester under the title The Black Lens. In addition to the striking aesthetics of each issue, The Black Lens offers empirical research data and commentary written by Danielle. Danielle produced six issues of The Black Lens, which are published as blogs on our website from October to December 2024.
In the winter 2025 semester, Emmanuel worked with long-term NBGN member and organizer Cherie A. Daniel to develop a collaboration with Mary Ola, Senior Manager of the Black Futures Initiative at George Brown College. George Brown was the host institution for this year’s Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Working in collaboration with Mary Ola and the support of her office, Emmanuel co-organized an NBGN Chill & Chat event to be held during the Congress, open and free of charge to all attendees and the public at large.
The event was held on June 3rd, hosted by Emmanuel and Mary, and featuring guest speakers Cherie A. Daniel, Dr. Qui Alexander and Dr. Funké Aladejebi, with me in the role of moderator. Photographs below were taken by the Black Futures Initiative photographer and have been generously shared with us by Mary Ola.
