Black at McGill
A look at McGill’s history (and necessarily Montreal’s history) within the larger currents of Black history
A look at McGill’s history (and necessarily Montreal’s history) within the larger currents of Black history
Born in Quebec City, William Wright graduated with a degree from McGill’s Faculty of Medicine in 1848, becoming the first person of colour to earn a medical degree in British North America (now known as Canada).
See the full story on the McGill Bicentennial site.
1910
Born on the island of Nevis, British West Indies, Dr. DuPorte was a ground-breaking entomologist and parasitologist.
See the full story on the McGill Bicentennial site.
In 1916, a group of West Indian medical students rallied the Gamma Medical League to protest and petition the Board of Governors over “quotas” put in place by McGill’s Faculty of Medicine.
See the full story on the McGill Bicentennial site.
Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, Kenneth Melville graduated at the top of his class, earning the Holmes Gold Medal for his year (1926). In 1930, he was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship at the prestigious Institut Pasteur in Paris.
See the full story on the McGill Bicentennial site.
1936
In 1936, Juanita Corinne DeShield became the first Canadian-born Black woman to graduate from McGill. She earned a BA Honours degree in French, graduating at the top of her class.
See the full story on the McGill Bicentennial site.
The British West Indian Society, the first known Black student group at McGill, was established in 1940.
See the full story on the McGill Bicentennial site.
1949
In 1949, Beryl Rapier (then Beryl Dickinson-Dash), a third-year Arts student, became the first Black woman to be crowned Carnival Queen. Winter carnival was considered a staple of student life, and thousands of McGillians voted on the Carnival Queen title.
See the full story on the McGill Bicentennial site.
The McGill African Students’ Association, the second Black McGill student organization, was founded in the fall of 1951.
In 1956, Frederick Phillips became McGill’s first Black Law graduate, the first Black lawyer in Quebec upon passing the bar.
See the full story on the McGill Bicentennial site.
1957
Guyanese-born Neville Linton was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the McGill Daily in the 1957-1958 academic year.
See the full story on the McGill Bicentennial site.
Born and raised in Barbados, Cools immigrated to Canada in 1957 and first drew public attention as a student leader during the Sir George Williams (Concordia) sit-ins. After graduating from McGill, Cools pursued a pioneering career as a social worker before being appointed as Canada's first Black Senator in 1984.
1985
After a prolonged student-led campaign organized by the McGill African Student Society (MASS) and the Black Students Network (BSN), McGill became the first Canadian university to announce it would divest in companies with ties to Apartheid South Africa.
In February 2017, McGill hosted the University’s first official Black History Month celebration. This was an especially important year as it marked the 10th anniversary of February being officially recognized by the Quebec government as Black History Month.
See the full story on the McGill Bicentennial site.
2020
In September 2020, McGill launched its Action Plan to Address Anti-Black Racism.
McGill University is on land which has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst Indigenous peoples, including the Haudenosaunee and Anishinabeg nations. We acknowledge and thank the diverse Indigenous peoples whose presence marks this territory on which peoples of the world now gather.
For more information about traditional territory and tips on how to make a land acknowledgement, visit our Land Acknowledgement webpage.