I now see that in my coverage of historians honoured with the Order of Canada recently, I did not just bury the lede, I missed it altogether.
Bryan Prince, who I mentioned, was honoured alongside his wife and historical partner Shannon Prince, who I missed entirely. Husband and wife designations like these must be pretty rare.
The Sarnia Observer has a good local/national news story about the careers of the Princes, with much detail on Shannon Price's academic work in black history and her long record as curator of the Buxton National Historic Site.
Shannon, who retired last month as curator of Buxton National Historic Site and Museum after 25 years, said she was “completely shocked” and cried when she and her husband heard the latest news.
“We received an email from the secretary’s office to the Governor General,” she told The Daily News on Tuesday. “My first thought was that someone we know has been nominated and they gave us as a reference. She wanted to set up a phone call and that’s when she told us.”
... Shannon, an academic with contributions to the field of Underground Railroad research, has worked with York University, University of Toronto, Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Millersville University, and several other historical organizations around the world
Bryan is an acclaimed author and researcher in his own right in the areas of slavery, abolition and the Underground Railroad.
On a related topic, Paul Krugman at the New York Times has a sweeping analysis comparing American slavery against European serfdom and generally pondering the economic, class, and political underpinnings of labour exploitation across the world. (This gift link should be available to non-subscribers)
