Publications

Bonner, C., de B’beri, B.E. & Reid-Maroney, N. Eds. (Spring 2025). The Black Press: A Shadowed Canadian Tradition. University of Toronto Press.

The Black Press brings together original, multidisciplinary research that explores the history and impact of Black newspapers in Canada. This collection of essays introduces readers to the rich archive of Black Canadian journalism, spanning the period from the abolitionist to the modern civil rights era, and reveals the extensive network of African and African-descended activist-journalists.
The book positions Black Canadian journalists, editors, publishers, and readers as influential intellectual activists whose efforts shaped the press to drive socio-cultural change both in Canada and abroad. Through historical analysis and archival research, each essay highlights how Black journalists countered mainstream portrayals of their community, challenging dominant narratives of Blackness in the Canadian imaginary. The essays demonstrate how the Black Press served as a crucial space for reflecting on Black Canadian identity, belonging, social justice, and human rights within the colonial contexts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Combining historical, archival, and cultural analysis, the book uncovers the profound and often overlooked influence of the Black Press on Canada’s cultural and political landscape.

Bonner, C. (2020) “Foreword,” in Amanda Carvery-Taylor, A Love Letter to Africville (Halifax: Fernwood Press).

 A Love Letter to Africville is a dazzling compilation of personal stories and photos from former residents of Africville. Much has been written about the struggles of the Africville community, who have been hurt, discriminated against and dispossessed for so long — but Africville is so much more than just the pain. This book recasts the historical narrative to help former residents heal by emphasizing the beautiful and positive aspects of Africville. Amanda Carvery-Taylor organizes captivating stories and stunning photography that express the love and importance of Africville. This book is a warm hug from one of Canada’s most important storied communities.

• Bonner, C. (2024). “Bridging Religion and Black Nationalism: The Founding of St Philips African Orthodox Church and the Universal Negro Improvement Association Hall in Whitney Pier, 1900-1930.” In MacKinnon, L. & Parnaby, A. Cape Breton in the Long Twentieth Century. Athabasca University Press.

• Bonner, C. (2023). “A Glaring Silence: A Critical Reflection on Black Canada in the Pages of the Journal of the Canadian Historical Association.” J. of the Canadian Historical Assoc. 33(1):73-83. 

• Corbett, M., Tinkham, J. & Bonner, C. (2023). A Noisy Silence: Challenges for Rural Teacher Education. In Banck, C. and Pohler, D. (Eds.) Building Inclusive Communities in Rural Canada. University of Alberta Press.

• Bonner, C. (2022). “A Caribbean Community in the North Atlantic: Caribbean Migration to Whitney Pier, Nova Scotia, 1900-1930.” Histoire sociale/Social History, 55(114): 301-324.

• Bonner, C. (2022) ‘“Likely to become a Public Charge’: Examining Black Migration to Eastern Canada, 1900-1930.” In Aladejebi, F. & M. Johnson. (Guest Editors). Unsettling the Great White North: African Canadian History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 

• Bonner, C. (2022). “Canadian Military History and the Black Atlantic.” In Eichler, M., Green, R. & Moniz, T. Eds. Speaking Up: New Voices on War Peace in Nova Scotia. Nimbus Publishing and Vagrant Press.

• Bonner, C. (2022). “No Gardens, Just Shacks: The Housing Experiences of African-American Steelworkers in Whitney Pier, Nova Scotia in 1901.” Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie. 59(4):560-562.

• Bonner, C. & Bernard, W. (2018). “Labouring for Change: Narratives of African-Nova Scotian Women, 1919 – 1990.” In Reid-Maroney, N. (Guest Editor). Women in the Promised Land: New Essays in African Canadian History. African Diaspora Cultural Series. Ottawa: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

• Bonner, C. (2014). “A Daughter of Promise – Diary of a Female African-Canadian Teacher in Rondeau, 1907.” In de B’beri, B., Reid-Maroney, N., & Wright, H. Eds. The Promised Land Project: History and Historiography of the Black Experience in Chatham-Kent’s Settlements and Beyond, University of Toronto Press 90-105.

• Bonner, C. & Bernard. W. (2013). “Kinship and Community Care.” Journal of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (JMI) 4, 1. 

•  Bonner, C. (2025). Excerpt from “Bridging Religion and Black Nationalism: The Founding of St Philips African Orthodox Church and the Universal Negro Improvement Association Hall in Whitney Pier, 1900-1930.” (The Acadiensis Blog) https://acadiensis.wordpress.com/

• Bonner, C. (2018). “Black Women and the Civil Rights Movement in Nova Scotia.” Acadiensis: Journal of the History of the Atlantic Region (The Acadiensis Blog) https://acadiensis.wordpress.com/2018/08/09/black-women-and-the-civil-rights-movement-in-nova-scotia/

• Bonner, C. (2022). [Review of book Schooling the System: A History of Black Women Teachers, by Funké Aladejebi.] Ontario History

• Bonner, C. (2021). [Review of book Secular, Scarred and Sacred: Education and Religion Among the Black Community in Nineteenth-Century Canada, by Jerome Teelucksingh.] Ontario History, 113, no. 1, (106-108).

• Bonner, C. (2017). [Review of book Canada’s Rural Majority, 1870-1940: Household, Environment, Economies, by Ruth Sandwell]. Ontario History, 109, no. 1, (149-150).

• Bonner, C. (2012). [Review of book Moving Beyond Borders: A History of Black Canadian and Caribbean Women in the Diaspora by Karen Flynn]. Histoire Sociale/Social History, 45, no. 90, (436-438).