Born free in a slaveholding nation and unafraid to confront it, Mary Ann Shadd Cary carved out a life defined by intellect, defiance, and relentless public action. A teacher, lawyer, and the first Black woman in North America to publish a newspaper, she challenged both American slavery and Canadian complacency. Through the pages of The Provincial Freeman, she argued for self-reliance, integration, and equal rights at a time when such demands invited hostility. Her story moves across borders—from the United States to Canada and back again—tracing a 19th-century struggle for freedom that still echoes today.

Dr. Nneka D. Dennie is a Black feminist scholar with specializations in nineteenth- and twentieth-century African American history. Her research examines Black intellectual thought with an emphasis on nineteenth-century African American history. Dr. Dennie is an Assistant Professor of History, core faculty in the Africana Studies Program, and affiliate faculty in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at Washington and Lee University.

Check out Canyon Entertainment’s newest podcast hosted by David Borys, The Conflict and Culture Podcast, here!

Don’t forget! You can purchase a copy of Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867 right now at the below links:

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Dundurn

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In the 17th century, across an ocean and a continent, the will of Louis XIV stretched deep into New France. This episode examines how an absolutist monarchy governed a fragile colonial frontier. How did royal officials impose order on distant settlements along the St. Lawrence? What roles did intendants, governors, and bishops play in enforcing law, regulating trade, and structuring society? From seigneurial land grants to military defense and missionary ambition, we explore the administrative machinery that bound colony to crown—and the tensions that emerged when metropolitan authority met colonial reality in a vast, unforgiving world.

Colin Coates is professor of Canadian Studies and chair of the Department of Global and Social Studies at Glendon College, York University. He is currently president of the Canadian Historical Association. His book, Political Culture in Louis XIV’s Canada: Majesty, Ritual, and Rhetoric was published by McGill-Queen’s University Press in 2024. It won the Prix de l’Assemblée nationale for the best political history book from the Institut d’histoire de l’Amérique française.

Check out Canyon Entertainment’s newest podcast hosted by David Borys, The Conflict and Culture Podcast, here!

Don’t forget! You can purchase a copy of Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867 right now at the below links:

Amazon

Indigo

Dundurn

Goodreads

Indiebookstores.ca

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970) produced widespread famine, particularly in Biafra, prompting an unprecedented humanitarian response from abroad. Canadian churches helped found CANAIRELIEF, an ecumenical coalition that raised funds, mobilized volunteers, and supported clandestine airlifts of food and medical supplies. Motivated by moral urgency and graphic media coverage, these churches sought to bypass political paralysis. Yet the effort was deeply complicated: relief flights risked prolonging the conflict, aid was entangled with Biafran propaganda, and questions arose over neutrality, sovereignty, and whether humanitarian action inadvertently sustained the war’s machinery.

Dr. Taiwo Bello is an Assistant Professor of African History and an affiliate faculty member of the Africana Studies Centre at Oklahoma State University. He serves on the Editorial Review Boards of the African Studies Association journal, History in Africa, published by Cambridge University Press; and the Canadian Association of African Studies journal, the Canadian Journal of African Studies, published by Taylor & Francis. He is the current President of the African Military Studies Association (AMSA), a coordinate organization of the African Studies Association.

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