On November 20, Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey, an Associate Professor and William Dawson Scholar in McGill University’s Department of History and Classical Studies, was awarded the 2024 Governor General’s History Award for Scholarly Research. This recognition, granted by Her Excellency Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada, honors Adjetey’s 2023 book, Cross-Border Cosmopolitans: The Making of a Pan-African North America. The award, Canada’s highest accolade in history and heritage, is administered by Canada’s National History Society.
Reflecting on the achievement, Professor Adjetey shared, “My parents have a seventh- and sixth-grade education, so this award means much to them and me. It’s also a great honor that I share with my African-Canadian elders and their forebears who came of age in a Canada virulently opposed to Black people, despite all that Black communities had sacrificed for Crown and country.”
The book delves into African American history between 1900 and 2000, with a particular focus on global Black liberation movements. It draws extensively from archival records in Canada and the United States to explore how Black North Americans of American, Caribbean, and Canadian descent united to foster Pan-Africanism, aiming to liberate Black communities across the Americas and Africa.
