Putting Name to Face: Alfred Lafferty

Explore more profiles

The story of Alfred Lafferty provided the intellectual impetus for the name of the Black History Month exhibition celebrating Black contributions to teaching and learning in Guelph, Wellington, and Waterloo. In 1872, Alfred Lafferty became the first Black principal of an Ontario public high school when he led Guelph County High School (now known as Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute, GCVI). 

There is no available picture of Mr. Lafferty. Black students attending the high school he once led cannot see themselves reflected in his face. It is this kind of erasure that Black people fight against through efforts like Black History Month, which showcase our contributions to all aspects of life in Canada and humanity more broadly. 

GCVI BSU

To carry on the legacy of Black Brilliance left by Alfred Lafferty GCVI Black Student Union Students engage in the following programing: 

• CBC Black Future Month Video  
  • GCVI BSU students were featured in this CBC spotlight in February 2023 explaining the rebranding of Black History month as Black Future Month: Click here to watch.
• Black Future Month Assembly/Show 
  • Celebration of all aspects of Black Culture while also educating about contemporary issues facing Black students. A mix of dance, spoken word, educational videos, music, etc. 
  • Guelph Today Article spotlighting the Show after renaming GCVI’s Auditorium after Alfred Lafferty: Click here to learn more about this!
• BSU Banquet
  • The annual BSU Banquet is held at GCVI. The event brings together food and music to bring Black students from the board together to network and plan out the year. 
• Windsor 
  • African Diaspora Youth Conference, GCVI, and other schools from the board attend ADYC each year. The conference brings together school leaders and fosters a sense of community and belonging for Black students on university campuses. Additionally, the benefit of attending ADYC for students is the $1000 Diaspora scholarship they will receive if they attend Windsor University 
    • GCVI BSU students engage in several fundraising events and initiates throughout the school year to help fund the cost of attending this conference. They sell Black Future Month t-shirts, host movie events featuring Black actors/creators, have Jamaican Patty sales etc. Our BSU Students work tirelessly to curate events for the school that will also help them raise funds to attend ADYC each year. 
• Black Brilliance Conference at UofG 
  • The Black Brilliance conference is student led and is attended by students from highschools across the board each year in partnership with the University of Guelph and the Upper Grand Black Educators Network. Students choose from a variety of student curated workshops, engage in a resource fair and campus tours. 
• Alfred Lafferty Award 
  • At GCVI, we created a commencement award in recognition of the legacy of Alfred Lafferty that is given to deserving graduating students who identify as a part of the African Diaspora community and have demonstrated exemplary leadership in the pursuit of equity/inclusion. 
    • The Alfred Lafferty Award is one of the awards currently funded by teacher donations and we are hoping for greater community engagement to support this award.