Lift Every Voice and Sing
There was a time, not that long ago, where students in Toronto were typically taught nothing about Black Canadian history. UTS parent Jennifer Holness P ‘21, '25 remembers. Today the award-winning film television director, producer and screenwriter shared her perspectives as the keynote speaker at the UTS Black Futures Month Assembly.
She told students how “shocked” she felt when, as an adult, she began to uncover aspects of Canadian Black history she had never heard of before for her work. They became the basis of the revered History Channel series BLK: An Origin Story, which she and her husband, Sudz Sutherland P ’21, ’25, developed through their production company Hungry Eyes Media.
“When you don't have information, you don't know what came before,” she told students.
That is why assemblies like this are so important. Organized by students on the UTS Black Equity Committee, the assembly took our school community on a powerful journey towards a greater understanding of the Black experience, here at UTS and in Canada.
Seven Black students spoke about what Black Futures Month means for them, expressing the hope that in time we won’t need Black Futures Month because everyone will be equal. In the eloquent words of one student, “Black Futures Month should be about looking directly at a future where Black people don't need to be lifted to be seen, because we are already eye to eye with everybody in every room.”
Later on, in the assembly, students heard from the event’s MC, who recalled arriving at the school as an F1 with another Black student: “It was the first time in the school's history that there were two Black students in the same grade in the almost 110 years since the school was founded.”
Neither student was used to being such a small minority and at times, experienced what one calls “a cultural disconnect” with questions and comments about their food, hair or other stereotypes. “Not everyone knows everything about our hair, our food or our experience, because we all have different hair, different food and different experiences. Experiences like these have their challenges, but at the end of the day, they're part of the richness of cultural exchange, and they contribute to what makes coming to UTS so valuable.”
Two S5 students led the panel questions to Jennifer Holness, including this question: “How can media portrayal of Black people influence public attitudes, policies and even how Black people feel about themselves?”
Jennifer’s answer: the media is super powerful, and that is the reason she makes film and television. “I understood growing up that what I saw in the media was so powerfully ingrained in what I thought was possible.”
She told students she believes it is our obligation as human beings to stand up for each other and be there for our fellow man. “Life is much richer when you are able to open yourself up to someone else with a different point of view and a different experience. As a filmmaker, that's how I approach every project ‒ being open to someone's story that's not mine.”
The assembly culminated with a student’s moving performance of Lift Every Voice and Sing, often referred to as the Black National Anthem, which filled the Withrow Auditorium with the sound of possibility and purpose.
Black Futures Month is providing wonderful opportunities for UTS students to taste delicious foods, explore Black cultures and most of all, gain a deeper understanding of each other to carry us forward not just through this month, but throughout the year and beyond.
