Black Lives in Alberta: Over a Century of Racial Injustice Continues

Black Lives in Alberta: Over a Century of Racial Injustice Continues tells the story of five generations of Black Albertans and their experiences of discrimination living on the Canadian Prairies. Descendants of a large wave of African American immigrants who moved to Alberta and Saskatchewan in the early 20th Century to escape racism and persecution in the United States candidly share their family histories and discuss how their racial identities have shaped their experiences of living in Alberta.

Shiloh Centre for Multicultural Roots Oral History Project

Jenna was the oral historian on the Shiloh Centre for Multicultural Roots Oral History Project. This was a research and community engagement project designed to document the historical and contemporary experiences of Alberta and Saskatchewan’s Black settlers who moved to the Canadian Prairies between 1905 and 1912 to escape racism and intense persecution in the United States. A main focus was to record individuals’ experiences with discrimination and marginalization while living in Canada.

The work on this project led to the creation of an award winning documentary entitled We are the Roots: Black Settlers and their Experiences of Discrimination on the Canadian Prairies.

We are the Roots

“An intriguing and moving new documentary.”
– Paula Simons, Edmonton Journal

We are the Roots: Black Settlers and their Experiences of Discrimination on the Canadian Prairies tells the story of a wave of African American immigrants who moved to Alberta and Saskatchewan between 1905-1912 to escape racism and persecution in the United States.  Taking advantage of Canada’s offer of 160 acres of land for a $10 fee, 1000-1500 individuals moved to the Prairies and helped develop several settlements throughout the provinces.

Through the stories of 19 descendants of the original settlers, We are the Roots focuses on the experiences of discrimination these individuals encountered while living in the rural communities and in Edmonton.

On the Shoulder of Giants Oral History Project

Jenna researched and recorded the history of the world-renowned Division of Gastroenterology at the University of Alberta.

This project consisted of in-depth oral history interviews with the three founders of the Division as well as the first fellows from the University’s gastroenterology fellowship training program, the first of its kind in Western Canada. This oral history project resulted in the production of the documentary On the Shoulders of Giants.

On the Shoulders of Giants

On the Shoulders of Giants is a true Alberta story about three doctors from the prairies who worked tirelessly and selflessly to improve the conditions of health care and education in the province of Alberta by founding what is now the world renowned Division of Gastroenterology at the University of Alberta.

As told by the Division’s visionary founders, Dr. Richard Sherbaniuk, Dr. Ronald Wensel and Dr. Wilfred Weinstein, this meaningful story sheds light on the changing face of health care in Alberta.

Coyote Flats Pioneer Village Oral History Project

Jenna was the oral history consultant for the Coyote Flats Pioneer Village Oral History Project which involved a partnership between Coyote Flats Pioneer Village, Picture Butte High School and the Centre for Oral History and Tradition at the University of Lethbridge.

This project recorded the history of the people who settled Picture Butte and Southern Alberta as well as the history of the development of the Coyote Flats Pioneer Village and its historic buildings and artifacts.

Can Any Mother Help Me?

“Fantastically absorbing, frequently funny and always affecting.” – Observer
“A unique record of female friendship during the last century.” – Guardian
“Equally entertaining and moving.” – The Times
“Top Ten Books Ever Written on Motherhood” – The Guardian

In 1935, a young woman wrote a letter to Nursery World magazine, expressing her feelings of isolation and loneliness. Women from all over the country experiencing similar frustrations wrote back. To create an outlet for their abundant ideas and opinions they started a secret magazine, The Cooperative Correspondence Club.

With startling honesty, the women wrote about every aspect of their lives – the pain and elation of childbirth, the challenges of marriage, broken hearts and fading dreams. None of them could have anticipated the friendships that would grow; nor that the magazine would last their lifetimes. This is their story.

Het Geheime Tijdschrift
Can Any Mother Help Me? (Dutch)

Het geheime tijdschrift werd 1935 opgericht naar aanleiding van een ingezonden brief van een wanhopige, jonge moeder. Zij schreef naar een vrouwenblad over de eenzaamheid en de verveling van haar bestaan als huismoeder. Ondanks haar studie en ambities moest zij na haar huwelijk stoppen met werken. Maar aangezien de brievenschrijfster geen enkele voldoening vond in haar huishoudelijke taken, zocht zij naar een bezigheid. Er reageerden vrouwen uit het hele land, en een aantal van hen besloot een geheim tijdschrift op te richten. Niemand van hen kon op dat moment vermoeden dat de vriendschap die op deze manier ontstond zo sterk zou blijken dat het tijdschrift gedurende hun hele leven zou blijven bestaan.

A Grief Observed Readers Edition

“A classic of the genre, a literary answer to the pain of loss.” – Robert McCrum

In April 1965, C.S. Lewis, a confirmed bachelor, married Joy Davidman, an American poet with two small children. After four intensely happy years, Davidman died of cancer and Lewis found himself alone again, and inconsolable. In response, he wrote this journal, freely confessing his pain, rage, and struggle to sustain his faith. In it he finds the way back to life. A modern classic, A Grief Observed has offered solace and insight to countless readers worldwide. This new edition contains the original text of A Grief Observed alongside specially commissioned responses to the book and its themes from respected contemporary writers and thinkers: Hilary Mantel, Jessica Martin, Jenna Bailey, Rowan Williams, Kate Saunders, Francis Spufford and Maureen Freely.

Ivy Benson’s All Girl Band

Between 1940 and the early 1980s, a formidable woman named Ivy Benson ran the first nationally known, and longest running, all girl dance band in British history. Throughout her career as a bandleader, Benson organized her eighteen to twenty-four piece band like a music school for young women by recruiting, training, mentoring and managing over 300 musicians over a period of four decades.

From the height of the big band era to the end of the disco days, Ivy and her girls played alongside all the top British bands including the Beatles and Tom Jones. This band biography tells not only Ivy Benson’s story but brings to light the hidden stories of Britain’s top female musicians who made a career in what was otherwise a man’s world.