In this episode we are celebrating two of Windsor’s earliest and most influential women writers, both of them women of African heritage who lived in Windsor in the 1850s: Mary Miles Bibb and Mary Ann Shadd Cary. We are joined Teajai Travis, Amina Abdulle, and our own Irene Moore Davis.
Teajai Travis is an Afro-Indigenous artist and activist, born and raised in Waawiiyaatanong, the last stop of the Underground Railroad. As an art practitioner, Teajai uses poetry, spoken word and traditional hand drumming to spin a tapestry of narratives to breathe flesh and blood to the long-lost stories of his ancestors. In 2017 he launched his Missing from History: Women of the Underground Railroad project to identify the important role women played in the intricate network of freedom fighters known as the Underground Railroad. He went on to develop these stories through poetry, spoken word, and theatre. More recently, Teajai’s exploration of his family history led to a multi-disciplinary project called Born Enslaved. He is a member of the founding board of The Windsor Youth Centre, the founder of an arts based community outreach initiative called The Bloomfield House, involved in many organizations, and currently the Executive Director at Artcite Inc. This year, in collaboration with Friends of the Court at Mackenzie Hall, Teajai successfully advocated for the renaming of a City of Windsor park in honour of nineteenth century writer, educator, and activist Mary E. Miles Bibb.
Irene Moore Davis is a Windsor, Ontario-based educator, writer, historian, and podcaster. In addition to being one of our All Write in Sin City co-hosts, Irene is President of the Essex County Black Historical Research Society, Program Chair at BookFest Windsor, and actively involved with many other community organizations. Irene has published works of poetry, short fiction, history, and journalism. Her forthcoming book is titled Our Own Two Hands: A History of Black Lives in Windsor from the 1700s Forward. She is a graduate of the University of Windsor, Western University, and Queen's University, and is an administrator at St. Clair College, where she also teaches English, Underground Railroad history, and Black cultural studies.
Amina Abdulle is a poet and a teacher who's passionate about art and expression. Born in Somalia, Amina has been living in Canada since she was 7 and is proud to call Windsor her home. Amina has been working as a teacher for the last 10 years. She has taught English at the high school level and is now the Department Head of ESL at Kennedy Collegiate. She is also the co-founder Black Staff Equity Alliance as well as a member of various organizations within the city that focus on equity and justice. Amina sits on the board of two organizations and tries to use her time and voice to support her community in whichever ways she can. Amina began writing fiction at a very young age and quickly fell in love with poetry and all forms of artistic expression. A graduate of the University of Windsor's Creative Writing program, Amina began to focus on writing works of poetry that touch on several issues including her cultural background and issues of identify.