Porter talk: Episode 1 trailer

 

Discover Library and Archives Canada presents “Porter Talk.” This production explores the lived experiences of Black men who laboured as sleeping car porters for both the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railways during the twentieth century. Their voices, along with those of their wives and children, relay stories of both hardship and resilience.

Stanley G. Grizzle, a Canadian Pacific Railway porter for twenty years as well as a celebrated activist, civil servant, and citizenship judge, was also an avid historian who went to great lengths to document and preserve Black History in Canada and beyond. His collection is now held at Library and Archives Canada.

Duration: 2:01

File size: 2.2 MB Download MP3

Publish Date: August 22, 2024

ISSN 2819-5035

• Transcript of Porter Talk trailer

  Cecil Foster (CF): I often think of Stan in a lovable way as a pack rat. In that he kept everything, buttons, scraps of paper...

  Saje Mathieu (SM): Look, I remember the day I cold-called Stan Grizzle as a grad student. He made me jump through some hoops first, like everyone else. He was like, do you know who I am? I was like, yes, I know who you are probably more than you would want me to, actually.

  Steven High (SH): He created an archive, right… Black history is largely invisible. Like whose stories make it into the archive? And that's a political question.

  Dorothy Williams (DW): Well, I mean, he was a chronicler and, you know, he's telling a story from his own vantage point and that's good. I mean, we need a lot more stories… So we still need the chroniclers. We still need our writers, our dreamers, our visionaries to put it on paper and to help flesh out this the story of the Black experience in Canada.

  Stanley Grizzle Jr. (SGJr): Dad was a collector of people, eh? And that tape recorder, he used to keep the tape recorder around his neck and take it off and put it down.

  Subscribe for free to Discover Library and Archives Canada wherever you get your podcasts. Episode 1 of “Porter Talk—Honouring Stanley G. Grizzle: An Activist for our Times” launches on August 29.

Host: Richard Provencher, Chief, Media Relations, Communications and Policy Branch

Featuring the voices of: Cecil Foster, Saje Mathieu, Steven High, Dorothy Williams, and Stanley Edwin Grizzle Jr.

Voiceover for the French version of this podcast trailer: Lerntz Joseph and Euphrasie Mujawamungu

Narrator biographies

Dr. Cecil Foster, is a prolific writer and journalist who holds a PhD from York University. Currently, he serves as Chairman of the Department of Transnational Studies at the University of Buffalo. Dr. Foster’s work has long focused on multiculturalism in Canada and the role of race in this policy. His most recent book, They Called Me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada, tells the story of the first delegation of Black Canadians to meet with members of the federal Cabinet to discuss Canada’s discriminatory immigration practices. This trip, rooted in a long history of porter activism, paved the way for changes to the nation’s immigration policies, as well as those related to labour and human rights.

Stanley Edwin Grizzle Jr is the son of Stanley G. Grizzle and the fourth of seven children in the Grizzle family. A successful entrepreneur and innovator, his father’s activism and drive for change has long inspired and captivated him. Mr. Grizzle Jr. is also a talented musician in his own right, a hobby that found inspiration in the time he spent with his father. Now retired, he continues to find solace in nature, exploring the outdoors with a paddle in hand.

Dr. Steven High is a Full Professor of History at Concordia University; he also founded the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling there. He holds a PhD in Canadian History from the University of Ottawa. Dr. High’s most recent award-winning book, Deindustrializing Montreal: Entangled Histories of Race, Residence, and Class, tells the story of two neighbourhoods, one predominantly white and the other black, situated in Montreal’s southwest district

Dr. Saje Mathieu is a Full Professor of History at Concordia University; he also founded the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling there. He holds a PhD in Canadian History from the University of Ottawa. Dr. High’s most recent award-winning book, Deindustrializing Montreal: Entangled Histories of Race, Residence, and Class, tells the story of two neighbourhoods, one predominantly white and the other black, situated in Montreal’s southwest district.

Dr. Dorothy Williams holds a PhD in Library and Information Sciences from McGill University and currently works as a researcher at Concordia University within its Quebec English-Speaking Communities Research Network. She was bestowed a CBC Black Changemaker Award in 2022 and a Library and Archives Canada Scholar Award in 2023. In spring 2024, she was accorded the Ordre de Montréal, the city’s highest honour for outstanding contributions made to the city’s development and renown, as well as an Honorary Doctorate from the Université du Québec à Montréal. Dr. Williams’ books, Blacks in Montreal: 1628–1986 and The Road to Now: A History of Blacks in Montreal, are classics in the fields of Black studies and Black history in Canada. Dr. Williams is also a pedagogical pioneer who has long contributed to the development of curriculum pertaining to Black history in Canada, as well as a community knowledge keeper. The archival collection she cares for in her home is one of the most extensive existing archives to document Black experience in Montreal.

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Send your feedback to: bac.balados-podcasts.lac@canada.ca