culture | The Harriet Tubman Institute

Christopher Donshale Sims

rebsl — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 16:48:40 +0000

Christopher D. Sims is a cultural bearer and leader in all things African diaspora. Committed to African American and/or Black liberation, his contributions to Black people spand from writing, public reading, research, and serving on committees and the like representing the best of Black vision and creativity. A scholar, Christopher is a published author with content that details our shared Africaness. As a writer and researcher, he has written scholarly publications about the history of Black people worldwide.

Keywords: Anti-Blackness, Reparations, Black Diasporas, Black History, African American History, Canadian Black History, Canadian Indigenous People's History, African Diasporas Travel, Community, Culture, and African Diasporic Music and Performance Arts

Fabio Silva Magalhaes

alexall5 — Sun, 06 Mar 2022 01:33:52 +0000

A native from Bahia, Fabio Silva, aka Fabio Cascadura, is a Brazilian-Canadian MA in History at �첥��Ƶ. His MRP is a biographical study of the slave trader and Luso-Brazilian military officer Caetano Mauricio Machado (c.1750–1807) and his business with Bight of Benin.
His interests encompass economy, ethnography and culture related to Western Africa from the era of slavery to nowadays. He is a Research Assistant for different Digital Humanities projects such as Harriet Tubman Virtual Museum, Freedom Narratives, Anti-Slavery in the News (temporary name) and Equiano's World. Additionally, Fabio also has a strong musical background as a composer, singer and musician leading the band Cascadura for more than 20 years.

Henry Gomez

rebsl — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 05:29:45 +0000

Henry Gomez is an educator, who was formerly employed by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) as a high school teacher; and was nominated for a Teacher- of-The-Year award. He specialized in English Literature, Media Studies and Drama. He holds an MFA in Theatre and a BA in English from �첥��Ƶ and obtained his B. Ed from the University of Toronto. He believes in lifelong learning. After retirement from active teaching, he returned to York, where he recently defended his master’s thesis in Interdisciplinary Studies.

He was born and grew up in Princes Town, Trinidad and Tobago, where he began his career in education. As an actor, composer, recording artiste and radio host, he has an extensive background in various aspects of the performing arts in Canada and internationally.

He has worked in radio, television, film and theatre; and has hosted shows on CFRB 1010 and CIUT 89.5 FM. He has also worked as a theatre director and Master of Ceremonies. Under his sobriquet, King Cosmos, he became a Canadian Calypso Monarch, the winner of a Canadian Urban Music Award and a Canadian Reggae Music Award. He is also a Sunshine Award nominee. His community service includes helping to develop the Caribbean cultural arts in Toronto. He is a founding member and first Chair/Secretary of the Organization of Calypso Performing Artistes (OCPA) and a past Chair of the Caribana Arts Group. For the period 2012 to 2014, he led the team that produced the Flags and Colours children’s carnival for residents of the Jane and Finch community in Toronto. Henry looks forward to working for the betterment of the Harriet Tubman Institute.

Keywords: carnival, calypso, music, culture, Caribbean, Toronto, Africa, Canada, Trinidad, Tobago, Trinbago

Ola Mohammed

rebsl — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 19:29:22 +0000

Ola Mohammed is an Assistant Professor of Black Popular Culture in the Humanities Department at �첥��Ƶ. Her research is in the areas of Black Studies, Black Popular Music, Sound Studies and Diaspora Studies. She specializes in interdisciplinary research exploring Black cultural production, Black social life and Black being as sites of possibility.

Jamie Robinson

rebsl — Sun, 14 Nov 2021 03:33:22 +0000

Jamie is Assistant Professor of Acting and Directing for �첥��Ƶ’s Department of Theatre. He has been a Toronto-based professional artist since 1997 as an actor, director, producer, teacher, and writer. Upcoming, Jamie will be directing the world premiere of 1184 in collaboration with The Aga Khan Museum in spring 2022. Other director credits include: Madness with Rocks (CBC Gem/Obsidian Theatre), Spanish Golden Age Period �첥��Ƶ (George Brown Theatre), Copy That (Tarragon Theatre), Scotian Journey (Black Theatre Workshop), 365 Days/365 Plays (U of T Mississauga), She Stoops to Conquer and Romeo & Juliet (Guild Festival Theatre, also as Artistic Director), and was Obsidian Theatre’s coordinator for their mentor/apprentice program. Select Theatre acting credits include: Four seasons with the Stratford Festival of Canada, Much Ado About Nothing and Measure for Measure (Canadian Stage in High Park), Risky Phil (Young People’s Theatre. Dora Award Winner, Outstanding Performance), Gas Girls (New Harlem Productions. Dora Award Nomination), Title role in Richard III (Metachroma Theatre. META Award nomination), Comedy of Errors (Western Canada Theatre/Theatre Aquarius), Cake and The Rochdale Project (Theatre Passe Muraille), Medea (Mirvish/MTC), Escape From Happiness (Factory Theatre).

His film/TV acting credits include: Hudson & Rex (Rogers), Private Eyes (Global), In Contempt (BET), Falling Water (Universal), Conviction (ABC), The Expanse (SyFy), Saving Hope (CTV), Murdoch Mysteries (Shaftesbury), The Rick Mercer Report (CBC), Celeste in the City (ABC), and a recurring role in Condor (AT&T). Additionally, Jamie has taught acting for the University of Toronto Mississauga, George Brown College and The Armstrong Acting Studio.

Desirée de Jesus

rebsl — Sun, 14 Nov 2021 02:28:45 +0000

Dr Desirée de Jesus is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Media Studies at �첥��Ƶ. She was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at UBC. She holds a PhD from Concordia University and an MA (with Distinction) from Kings College London. Dr de Jesus is also a video essayist and moving images curator. Her videographic work analyzes films centering girls, women, and folks of colour. Her previous curatorial work supported the Visual Collections Repository (Concordia University) and the Toronto International Film Festival. Dr de Jesus’ research and teaching explore the intersections of race, gender, aesthetics, and technology in narrative film and media through traditional, creative, and curatorial methodologies. She is currently a co-investigator for a Connection Grant participatory filmmaking project about racialized girls, their futures, and experiences of COVID-19 inequalities. Her previous research was supported through various awards.