A forgotten piece of Guelph’s Black history was celebrated Tuesday, as GCVI high school recognized the contributions of Alfred Lafferty — a Black man who was principal of the school almost 150 years ago.
Students were told of Lafferty’s achievement during an assembly in celebrating of Black History Month on Tuesday.
The discovery of the forgotten piece of GCVI history was discovered by Hilary Dawson, a historical genealogist with a specialty in African-American history in the nineteenth century.
Lafferty was born in Toronto, the son of illiterate former slaves who immigrated to Canada.
He ended up graduating with a degree from University of Toronto — a feat Dawson said was remarkable for the time for anyone, let alone a Black man.
“Alfred didn’t have an easy life, but he overcame his obstacles of poverty and prejudice. He set goals and achieved them,” said Dawson.
He went on to become a teacher and Dawson believes that Lafferty became the first Black principal at a public school in Ontario in 1872 when he took on the role at GCVI, then known as The Guelph High School.
“He wanted all of his students to reach their full potential, and many of them became doctors and lawyers, priests and teachers,” said Dawson.
Lafferty's life as a Black man educating the young people of 150 years ago was undoubtedly fraught with hurdles.
Lafferty was also a lover of the arts and a performer. Dawson said he would have loved to have seen the school’s Black History Month assembly, with a wide range of performances from students and special guests.
GCVI became aware of Lafferty when Dawson reached out to the school last May as part of her research, said Sarah Bolton, one of the teachers who organized the event.
Teachers and staff at the school soon realized that Lafferty’s story was something special and began sharing his story with students and organized a celebration of his achievements as part of Black History Month.
“We have to celebrate this. Nobody has yet,” said Bolton.
GCVI principal Bob Scott said it was important that the dance, songs and spoken word selections were driven by the students themselves.
Student Audny-Cashae Stewart recited Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise with piano accompaniment by Yang Xu, while special guest Fannon Holland performed a spoken word piece that elicits the Black Lives Matter movement.
It was important to the students to drive the discussion, said Bolton.
“It’s the good and the bad. We wanted students to think about important issues that are in the forefront right now,” said Bolton.
Stewart said the participating students pushed for the ability to speak frankly about the issues that were important to them.
“It wasn’t open at first, but we fought to talk about global issues and the issues we are facing today. There’s no point of shielding people from certain issues with what is happening in our world today. When you get out of high school and that high school mentality, you will see it and you will face it,” said Stewart.
“If we aren’t aware and we don’t see things that are happening and it is hurting our people, we will never become able to face it or be able to talk about it,” she added.
On-stage participation in the assembly was not limited to students of colour, as the multi-ethnic GCVI Dance Crew presented a hip hop dance number and a dance choreographed to Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal, while the GCVI Stage Band performed Marvin Gaye’s How Sweet it is.
“We are very lucky with the student body we have — they are talented and very dedicated,” said Scott.
Denise Francis grew up in Guelph and was unaware of Lafferty’s contribution. Francis is now the president of the Guelph Black Heritage Society.
“To have our young people engaged in our history and our culture is what it is all about. They are our future and they can also inspire the next generation, too,” said Francis.
A plaque honouring Lafferty’s achievements will be placed at GCVI outside the auditorium, which has been renamed in his honour.
