Dr. Howard McCurdy was a Canadian activist, a member of Parliament, and a professor of science. Born in London Ontario on December 10, 1932, he moved to Amherstburg at the age of nine where he faced racism from his earliest years. The town assumed the Black community would want their own school and built one without consultation; Black people weren’t allowed to join the golf club; when the nine-year-old Howard wanted to join the Cub Scouts, he was told to form a Blacks-only troop; later, he was allowed to work at a bowling alley but wasn’t allowed to play. These experiences set the stage for the rest of his life.
“My political career began when I was 13…It began when I couldn’t shoot pool in the pool hall in my town & I couldn’t bowl in the bowling alley where I set pins.”
Dr. Howard McCurdy
After earning two undergraduate degrees in Ontario, Dr. McCurdy received his MSc and PhD in microbiology and chemistry from Michigan State University. While there, he became the founding president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
When he returned to Canada, he took a position as a biology professor at the University of Windsor, becoming the first black tenured professor in Canada. During this time, he also co-founded the Guardian Club. Through awareness, advocacy and even under-cover investigations, this group brought attention to the reality of discrimination and helped to create change. In 1969 after violent demonstrations occurred in Montreal, Dr. McCurdy brought together twenty-eight Black organizations including church groups to form the National Black Coalition of Canada (NBCC). The NBCC influenced Canadian policy in matters ranging from constitutional change to Black representation in the media.
Dr. McCurdy also worked for change in the political arena starting as a city councillor. He then became the second Black Canadian elected to Parliament and the first Black New Democrat MP. During this time, he was instrumental in pushing Canada to maintain sanctions against South Africa as part of the fight against apartheid.
Dr. McCurdy received many honours including the Order of Ontario, the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal and the Order of Canada. He died in Windsor in 2018 at the age of 85.
