8.  The Legacy of Robert Sutherland and the History of Racism at Queen's University

The history of racism at Queen’s University is extensive, hardly researched, and often forgotten by the members and alumni of this institution and community. The inaction of Queen's University to honour the financial donation which saved the university in difficult financial times and the legacy of its exceptional alumnus Robert Sutherland for 148 years is a telling example of this history. This poster is an artistic and educational piece on Robert Sutherland’s life, which balances providing information about dedications to him at Queen’s since 1997 with exposing Queen’s history of excluding the contributions of people of colour from its own history. As there is no visual representation of Robert Sutherland’s life, this pieceseeks to illustrate a subject who was “discovered” by students in the 1990s and whose legacy had thus been lost for over a century. These last two decades of efforts by students finally yielded the naming and dedicating of Robert Sutherland Hall on October 3, 2009. However, the originally adverse reaction of the Board of Trustees to the naming proposal and the exclusivity of the dedication event as put on by Queen’s Administration must not be erased purposefully or through the passage of time. These realities are incorporated into the piece so that “the students of Queen’s ensure [Robert Sutherland’s] legacy lives on and that the contributions of people of colour are never again forgotten.”