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Citation: 

Carleton, Sean. “Illustrating Racism: Challenging Canada’s Racial Amnesia with Comics.” Social History 46(92) (2013): 509-22.

Abstract/Summary: 

Sean Carleton critically analyzes and reviews three contemporary historical comic books that all draw attention to Canada’s hidden histories of racism. Carleton describes how David H.T. Wong’s Escape to Gold Mountain: A Graphic History of the Chinese in North America examines the migration of poor Chinese people to the United States and Canada in the mid-1800s and their struggles to build lives for themselves and their families. While the story is fictional, Carleton explains how Wong borrows from his family’s real life experiences. He also draws attention to some of the omissions made by Wong in his comic that can influence the credibility of the historical account being represented in the narrative. For Zac Worton’s The Klondike, Carleton explains how the comic is an account of the Yukon Gold Rush between 1896 and 1899, and how it complicates the romantic histories of the gold rush by considering the faults of those who rushed to the north in an attempt to become rich and famous. Carleton problematizes how Worton does not include any scholarly references in his comic and how there are instances in the narrative and images that reinforces stereotypes. Lastly, Carleton reviews David Alexander and Scott B. Henderson’s Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story, which is a comic based on Cross Lake First Nation Elder Betty Ross’s real survivor story. Carleton maintains that while this is an accessible, illustrated account of a difficult moment in Canadian history, the linear progression of the plot and the victim based narrative all diminish the responsibility of governments, churches, Canadians and the actual state of reconciliation in Canada at the present. Carleton believes that these comics contribute to Canada’s complex social history and can be used to challenge Canada’s racial amnesia.

Source/Credit: 
Emily Chicorli