By Cheryl Thompson
-
Jimmy Cliff and the roots of Toronto’s reggae scene, Part 2
“A variety of things went wrong.” The Globe’s unflattering verdict noted that Cliff was not as enthralling to watch as Marley, whose two-hour show...
-
Jimmy Cliff and the roots of Toronto’s reggae scene, Part 1
On November 24, 2025, Jamaican reggae legend Jimmy Cliff (né James Chambers) died at age 81. Twenty years prior, Cliff became only the fourth reggae...
-
Black History Month 2025: Racial Discrimination at Toronto’s Nightclubs
Cheryl Thompson is a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Black Expressive Culture & Creativity, Associate Professor of Performance at Toronto Metropolitan...
-
Excerpt: Canada and the Blackface Atlantic: Performing Conflict in Blackface
Excerpted with permission from Canada and the Blackface Atlantic, published in April 2025 by Wilfrid Laurier Press. Thompson, a Toronto Metropolitan...
-
Remembering the Harriet Tubman Youth Centre On St. Clair West
From November 1, 1972 to September 30, 1975, a Black cultural hub known as the Harriet Tubman Youth Centre operated in a building located at 15 Robina...
-
How can we make Black history matter?
This piece is co-authored by Dr. Cheryl Thompson and Daysha Loppie Many statues have commemorated white historical figures in Toronto’s public spaces...
-
Re-naming Yonge-Dundas Square
It’s not often that I strenuously disagree with Spacing editor Dylan Reid, but when I read “To Rename Yonge-Dundas Square, Let’s Follow the Process,” I...
-
MAYOR’S RACE: Parsing the politics of Mark Saunders’ performative allyship
Toronto’s mayoral election is historic. So many candidates and so many political affiliations, identities, and experiences. Voting is going to be a...
-
Black History Month: Making space for Black music in Canadian radio
By Cheryl Thompson and Francesca D’Amico-Cuthbert In 1983, Toronto radio personality Ron Nelson introduced local audiences to the program “Fantastic...
-
Black History Month: Eartha Kitt’s forgotten visits to Toronto
If there is one thing I have missed more than anything else during the pandemic, it is nightlife. In 2020, at least 22 music venues, including clubs and...
-
EXCERPT FROM ‘UNCLE’: Aunt Jemima in Chicago
Excerpted with permission from Uncle: Race, Nostalgia and the Politics of Loyalty, published this month by Coach House Books. Thompson, a Ryerson...
-
The ‘bashment’ parties of my childhood are Black history
In 2002, reggae artist Sean Paul shot the video for his song ‘Get Busy/Like Glue,’ in Vaughan. Directed by Toronto’s own Director X, the video begins with...