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The James Robinson Johnston Endowed Chair in Black Canadian Studies is an unprecedented national initiative established to “bring Black culture, reality, perspectives, experiences and concerns into the Academy. ” A truly government-public collective effort and collaborative partnership between both institutions and individuals, the Johnston Chair was set up at Dalhousie University with the support of a $2.5 million endowment.

The Johnston Chair was set up at Dalhousie University and is symbolically named for James Robinson Johnston, the first African Nova Scotian university graduate, and the first from his Community to earn a law degree from Dalhousie Law School in 1898.

Following a national recruitment campaign to find a senior scholar, in 1996 Dalhousie University invited Quebec Human Rights Educator,
Esmeralda M.A. Thornhill to inaugurate, anchor and pilot the James Robinson Johnston Endowed Chair in Black Canadian Studies. Homed in Dalhousie’s then Faculty of Law, Professor Thornhill held the Chair from 1996-2002.

• Tribute 1995: Out of the Dust and Out of the Shadows.
  Poem Written by Shirley Small and Dedicated to the Endowed National James Robinson Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies
• Tribute 2002: Homage to James Robinson Johnston and his Legacy.
  By Dr. Esmeralda M.A. Thornhill