Remembering Africville

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This video also comes with French subtitles; you can adjust the language in the captioning section of your viewer.

Read the transcript

This episode is the fourth of a new animated web series called History Bits. The series explores a diverse range of topics, from overcoming racism in Africville, Nova Scotia, to the historic fight for women’s voting rights, to the struggle to survive the dustbowl era of the Dirty Thirties. Each action-packed episode highlights the courage, creativity, and perseverance of Canadians from the past.

Supplemental Lesson

Africville Note-taking Exercise

This lesson teaches students about the history of Africville, Nova Scotia while also practicing the academic skills of attentive listening, note taking, and summarizing.

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Watch the series

Flying and Spying

Chinese-Canadian Kam Len “Doug” Sam served in the air force in the Second World War. Shot down in France, he gathered critical information as a spy for the Allies.

No Votes For Men!

Nellie McClung and a group of devoted suffragists stage their mock parliament to make a point about women’s equality.

Railway Men

Ride the rails across Canada with Black sleeping car porters as they fight for labour rights and civil rights.

Dust and Depression

Prairie families in the 1930s watch their farms — and hopes — blow away while they wait for rain.

Wildfire

Meet Tom Longboat, an Onondaga long distance runner who becomes a world-class athlete.

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Thanks to Section 25 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canada became the first country in the world to recognize multiculturalism in its Constitution. With your help, we can continue to share voices from the past that were previously silenced or ignored.

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History Bits was inspired by comics that appear in Kayak: Canada’s History Magazine for Kids, written by Kayak editor Nancy Payne and illustrated by Alex Diochon, and published by Canada’s History Society.