HALIFAX -- Organizers from the Saint John Black Lives Matter Movement are in the process of pushing for New Brunswick black history to be a part of the provincial school curriculum.
The president of the Saint John Black Lives Matter Movement, Matthew Martin, who grew up in New Brunswick, says he recalls very little about black history lessons when he was in school.
"It was 10 years ago, but I can remember just talking about the Underground Railroad a bit," said Martin. "Talking about Martin Luther King was a big deal, and maybe a hint of the civil rights movement, but nothing in depth."
That's something Martin hopes to see change as the Saint John Black Lives Matter group is now advocating for students to be taught about New Brunswick's own black history.
"Some of the stuff has happened in people's backyards and they don’t even realize it," explained Martin.
"A great example is the Underground Railroad. There's an exit point at Tomlinson Lake in Perth Andover and a lot of people, including myself until last week, don’t know about that."
The projects coordinator for the New Brunswick Black History Society, Ralph Thomas, says over the last seven or so years, they've been working with schools in an effort to educate students.
"We travel quite a lot to tell the story about black history because most folks don’t know the true story of black history so, it's never been told," said Thomas.
"It's never been put in the schools where it should be. It should have been there a long time ago."
In a Facebook post on Saturday by the Saint John Black Lives Matter Movement group, they say after a meeting with the Minister of Education, Dominic Cardy on Thursday, they're now in the early stages of designing a curriculum for the school system in New Brunswick.
"Those beginning stages are just us meeting with different black historians, community members, and finding, you know, what we want those outcomes to be," said Martin.
