Allison M. Smith
M.A. Public History Student
| Degrees: | B.Sc., Hons. (Queen's), B.Ed (Western), B.A., Hons. (Carleton) |
| Email: | allisonmsmith@cmail.carleton.ca |
Supervisor(s)
Drs. James Miller and John Walsh
Current Program (including year of entry)
M.A. – Public History (2013)
Academic Interests
Black History, Canadian History, Public History
Select Publications and Current Projects
Allison M. Smith, “Samuel de Champlain – Maps as Texts,” ACMLA Bulletin 147 (Spring/Summer 2014): 31-41.
Documentary film about Mary Ann Shadd Cary, the loss and later recovery of her Canadian letters. (To be completed April, 2015)
Exhibit Proposal for the Canadian Museum of History, Canada Hall, Underground Railroad Exhibit. (To be completed Dec. 2014)
Teaching Experience
High school level math and computer science.
Description of Research
My research in recent years has largely revolved around Black history in Canada, as well as the U.S., Haiti, and the broader transatlantic world. I am presently working on a documentary film about an African American woman named Mary Ann Shadd Cary who came to what was then Canada West in 1850. She was an abolitionist, author, teacher, newspaper editor, and, later in life, lawyer. When she returned to the U.S. in 1863 to recruit Black soldiers to fight in the Civil War she left behind her personal and business letters, and these letters were not found until 1974 after the house in which they were stored had been demolished. My film is about the precarious nature of certain historical memories, and particularly Black history. I am also doing research for a proposed exhibit at the Canadian Museum of History about the Underground Railroad and the deeper stories about Black history in Canada during the time of the Underground Railroad.