Book Signing – Ian Kennedy: On Account of Darkness

For marginalized athletes past and present, achievement can bring celebrity without equality and recognition without opportunity.

In many ways, Ontario’s Chatham-Kent region is a microcosm of Canadian multiculturalism: as a terminus of the underground railroad, it has long been home to a large Black community; Walpole Island and Delaware First Nation are nearby; and, during World War II, many interned Japanese-Canadians worked on local farms.

The athletic prowess of locals like Fergie Jenkins and Bob Izumi became a source of local, regional and national pride. The same was true of the Chatham Coloured All-Stars who, in 1934, became the first all-Black baseball team to win a provincial championship. But none of these achievements dislodged the systemic racism that defined their lives – All-Star members were paraded through streets lined with businesses they weren’t allowed to enter.

On Account of Darkness examines ambivalent Canadian attitudes toward race and sport that persist to this day.