HAMILTON, ON — Rubicon author Adrienne Shadd was awarded the Jackie Washington Award for the Arts at this year’s Reverend John C. Holland Awards for her contributions to Canadian arts and culture.
The awards were named after Reverend John Christie Holland, born in Hamilton in 1882 to parents who escaped from slavery in the US and moved to Hamilton. In 1924, he was ordained a minister; he later became pastor of Hamilton’s Stewart Memorial Church. The church has since been declared a historic site for its connection to the Underground Railroad. Established in 1996 as part of Hamilton’s Sesquicentennial celebrations and an initiative of the Hamilton Black History Committee, the Rev. John C. Holland Awards “serve to recognize the significant contributions of African Canadians to our entire community.” To learn more about the awards and to see a full list of this year’s winners, please click here.
Adrienne brought her expertise to Rubicon’s Sankofa: Black Heritage Collection as the author of two of the award-winning Sankofa titles, Freedom (grade 6) and Early Civilizations of Africa (grade 5). Adrienne was a valued member of our author team, and we are proud to have worked closely with her during the development of the series.
To learn more about these titles and the rest of the Sankofa series, please click here.