By Cecilia Nasmith

In our neighbour to the south, is the balance of power Black?

That question will be pondered by an expert at a Jan. 21 Northumberland Learning Connection program offered as a free Zoom event.

Dr. Keneshia N. Grant – who teachers at Howard University in Washington, DC, and is the author of The Great Migration and the Democratic Party – will offer her insights on such questions as how important the Black vote proved to be in the victory of President-Elect Joe Biden.

Dr. Grant goes back to the historical roots of Black voting patterns, beginning with Republican President Abraham Lincoln's great Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Thereafter, Blacks were staunch Republicans for decades.

It was only when Blacks began migrating north in the early 20th century that Democrats changed their parties policies in hopes of harnessing these votes. During this time, a dichotomy developed within the Republican party – racially mixed vs. lily white – with the latter faction attaining dominance.

In this partisan post-election period, Dr. Grant will explore more recent migrations of Blacks back to the south, and how active citizens and voters can impact the results.

This is the latest in a series of on-line NLC offerings that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down an elaborate series of in-person presentations on Alberta that had been planned for spring 2020. Rather than taking a hiatus, NLC offered a June 18 on-line session called Animal Farm: An Alternate View of Pandemics with University of Guelph Professor Emeritus Dr. David Waltner-Toews – a renowned Canadian veterinary epidemiologist who specializes in the diseases humans acquire from animals as well as a prolific author.

Three fall sessions followed, starting with author-documentarian Karin Wells's Oct. 1 interview with life-long Conservative Hugh Segal on his commitment to the policy of a guaranteed basic income.

On Nov. 19, Professor Joseph Wong explored China's expanding global role and what it means for Western democracies in a presentation called Watching China.

These sessions can be viewed on the NLC website, though video is not available of their Nov. 29 session presented in collaboration with Horizons of Friendship – renowned Canadian author and historian Margaret MacMillan discussing her best-seller War: How Conflict Shaped Us.

You can register for the Jan. 21 program Is The Balance of Power Black on the NLC website. The Zoom waiting room will open at 7 p.m., a slideshow will start at 7:20 p.m., and the event begins at 7:30 p.m.