FROM THE TRACKS: The World That Canadian Sleeping Car Porters Made
Black History Month
Feb 25, 2026 — 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
A special lecture to celebrate Black History Month with Professor Saje Mathieu of the History Department and Faculty of Arts Chair in Black Canadian History.
FROM THE TRACKS
For nearly a century, sleeping car porters were both the heart and the vanguard of Canadian Black communities. These union men, many of them also veterans, formed the bedrock of Black Canadian life as the defenders of Black Canadians’ social and political needs. Together with their families, porters challenged discriminatory practices in all facets of Canadian life, whether in the workplace or in contested social spaces like housing, schools, pools, and playgrounds. They created vibrant social lives—especially for Black children—and fought tirelessly for the dignity of African descended people in Canada.
This lecture in honour of Black History Month explores the world that sleeping car porters made for themselves, for Black Canadians, and for Canadians writ large.
Speaker
Professor Saje Mathieu
Sarah-Jane (Saje) Mathieu is Professor of History and Faculty of Arts Chair in Black Canadian History. Prof. Mathieu earned a Joint Ph.D. in History and African American Studies from Yale University and specializes in twentieth century Canadian, American, and African American history with an emphasis on immigration, war, race, globalization, social movements, and political resistance.
Prof. Mathieu has earned several international awards and is a former fellow at Harvard's Warren Center for Studies in American American, Fulbright Canada, the University of Heidelberg’s Center for American Studies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and at Harvard University’s W. E. B. Du Bois Institute. She has also won several teaching awards.