An article about First Baptist Church, the oldest Black institution in Toronto, now exists thanks to the Wikipedia 'Edit-a-thon' at U of T Scarborough.

Raquel A. Russell

When it comes to information about Black history in Canada there are significant gaps on Wikipedia, which is a familiar entry point for many doing research on the topic.

It’s something that a group of University of Toronto information professionals and co-hosts of U of T’s first Black History Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon hope to change.

“In my own undergraduate education background, I realized that so much of my immediate knowledge of Black history was informed by an American context,” says Alex Jung, U of T Libraries Open Technology Specialist and former U of T Libraries Wikipedian-In-Residence.

“For somebody that’s pretty new to Canada, or more specifically Toronto, the different nuances here – the very evident Afro-Caribbean communities, the African diaspora communities – there’s a lot to learn, and there’s been so few opportunities to focus on them.”

Recently held at U of T Scarborough Library, the Black History Wikipedia Edit-a-thon invited participants to edit and improve Black Canadian history, while U of T information professionals and Toronto Public Library librarian David Sprague provided basic editing training as editors dropped into the U of T Scarborough (UTSC) Library Instruction Lab.

Toronto Public Library Librarian David Sprague assists a student with edits at Black History Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon (photo by Raquel A. Russell)

“The point of an edit-a-thon is to fill in gaps, and the gaps are often in areas of marginalized or underrepresented groups and histories,” says Whitney Kemble, UTSC history librarian. “We want to supplement and improve their representation and the content, and facilitate more learning about these topics.”

With access to primary and secondary sources from the U of T Libraries and Toronto Public Library collections, 21 edits were completed and 19 references were steadily added by the end of the evening.

“That's what's great about having edit-a-thons in a library and with librarians,” says Kemble. “We have valid, secondary sources. A lot are scholarly, and some are gray literature produced by government organizations or other community organizations.”

One of the new Wikipedia articles to come out of the night was for First Baptist Church, the oldest black institution in Toronto, formed in 1826 by fugitive slaves. Until the edit-a-thon, the page had been nonexistent.

Other pending changes include a new page for The Congress of Black Women in Canada, a group that was led into existence by Kathleen Livingstone, a Black social activist, actor and broadcaster. Work also began on a page for The Provincial Freeman – a weekly publication which advocated equality, integration and self-education for black people in Canada and the United States and was co-founded by the first Black woman newspaper editor, Mary Ann Shadd.

The Black History Edit-A-Thon joins a movement of librarian efforts to improve articles on Wikipedia. Wikipedia campaign #1Lib1Ref, annually invites all librarians to ‘participate in the online encyclopedia project, specifically improving articles by adding citations.’

With access to primary and secondary sources from the U of T Libraries and Toronto Public Library collections, 21 edits were completed and 19 references were steadily added by the end of the evening (photo by Raquel A. Russell)

“There's more of a personal investment for me as well as I owe a lot to Black history,” says Jung, a popping dancer in his free time. “I’m into funk style dances – Black dances. A shout-out too to the ball scene mainly comprised of queer and Black folks. I owe a lot to Black artists and Black culture. I think we all do.”

When it comes to Black Canadian culture and its documentation on Wikipedia, there remains much to be added from entries on Donald Willard Moore – a Barbadian Community leader and civil rights activist who fought to change Canada’s exclusionary immigration laws – to the Black Theatre Canada ­– a Toronto theatre, founded by Vera Cudjoe, dedicated to the development of Afro-Caribbean works and artists and for whom no page also exists.

“As a history librarian, and as someone who has studied a lot of Black history, I want there to be more information that reflects all kinds of people, and experiences, and events in Black history,” says Kemble.

Learn more about how U of T Libraries provides support for Wikipedia initiatives at U of T