Natasha L. Henry-Dixon (née Henry) is a Canadian historian, educator and academic known for work related to Black history in Ontario. She is a faculty member in the Department of History at York University and has served as the President of the Ontario Black History Society since 2017.
Education
Henry obtained a B.A., B.Ed. and M.Ed. from York University continuing on at the school to complete her doctoral studies.[1] Her doctoral work was supervised by Michele Johnson.[2]
Career
Henry began working with the Peel District School Board in 2014 as occasional elementary teacher. She became President of the Ontario Black History Society in 2017.[1]
She has written and created numerous education resources related to Black history in Ontario and Canada, including articles for The Canadian Encyclopedia related to the topic.[3]
In 2022, she authored Change Starts Now: Our Stories. Our History, summarizing archival research related to Black history in Guelph, Ontario. Henry drew on her PhD dissertation project -- "One Too Many: The Enslavement of Africans in Early Ontario, 1760 - 1834" -- to create an online resource about slavery in Ontario.[4] The work draws on research into the history of enslaved people in Upper Canada drawn from the review of government records, church registers, newspapers and other historical documents.[5]
In 2022, Henry joined the Department of History at York University as a tenure-stream faculty member with a focus on African Canadian History.[2]
Awards
Henry received the 2017 Curriculum Development Award from the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario in recognition of classroom resources she created for Black History Month.[6]
In 2018, she was awarded a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship.[7][8]
Family
Natasha L. Henry married Fitzroy Dixon [when?]. The couple has a daughter.
Publications
Henry, Natasha L. (2010). Emancipation Day : celebrating freedom in Canada. Toronto: Natural Heritage Books. ISBN978-1554887170.
Henry, Natasha L. (2011). Talking about freedom : celebrating Emancipation Day in Canada. Toronto: Dundurn Press. ISBN978-1459700505.
Henry, Natasha L. (2022). Change Starts Now: our Stories, our History, our Heritage. PS Guelph. p. 28. ISBN9781989157121.