Reflecting on the life and legacy of Howard McCurdy: scientist, activist and politician

Howard McCurdy was a man of many firsts. 

First Black Canadian tenured professor. First Black department head at a Canadian university — he led the biology department at the University of Windsor. He even discovered a bacteria, and was almost an Olympian. He was Canada's second Black MP, representing the riding of Windsor-Walkerville from 1984 to 1988, and re-elected to the renamed riding of Windsor— Lake St. Clair, from 1988 to 1993. 

McCurdy had many accomplishments in many different fields, from academia to politics to civil rights activism.

He died on Feb. 20, 2018, at the age of 85, but the impact of his life and career is still being felt.

His daughter, Leslie McCurdy, remembers how hard he worked to be a father. Despite everything else he was doing, he made time to see his children at their sporting events or help out with school work.

"Our dad was really tough, demanding, but that taught us to work hard and to excel at the things that we do because he didn't let us just, you know, be mediocre," she said.

She got a pair of his shoes from her stepmother — a symbolic reminder that she is trying to follow in his foot steps. Leslie founded the Black Council of Windsor-Essex and is chair of the organization.

"I feel like my father would have wanted that, that he would want his legacy to continue in some way," Leslie said.

Some people know McCurdy for his work on Windsor city council, as a biology professor, as an NDP MP or through his human rights work, but people don't always put all these roles together to see just how much he accomplished, she said.

"I think if people knew about it, and if we celebrated personalities in Canada the way they do the United States, my father would be Canada's Martin Luther King. Because he was an excellent speaker and spoke about civil and human rights all over the world," she said.

If a Black man was to be on a Canadian bill, it should be him, she added.

George Elliott Clarke said he saw McCurdy as a mentor, even as a bit of a father figure.

Clarke worked for him while he was in the House of Commons, and from there their relationship grew. About seven or eight months before McCurdy died, he asked Clarke to edit his memoir.

"It's been great living his life, at least his memory of his life and all the things that he thought were really important, all the important events and people in his life," he said.

There were disappointments among the accomplishments, including McCurdy's defeat in the 1993 federal election. Clarke was distressed to find out how much the outcome hurt McCurdy.

"I think he felt particularly hurt by his loss because he had tried to defend [then-Ontario Premier] Bob Rae's government, which had brought in some very unpopular measures, such as 'Rae Days.' And Howard, as an intellectual, as a scientist, understood the necessity for doing something to preserve the finances of Ontario so it wouldn't go bankrupt," he said.

But many did not like the drastic measures and anyone who would try to defend Rae's government would be punished at the ballot box, Clarke said. 

"What added insult to injury was the fact that the people he tried to defend, he didn't feel had really come to his side to even offer words of comfort after his defeat. He felt abandoned," he said.

McCurdy had long-established ties with the NDP.

"He was the one who proposed and championed New Democratic Party, and that was 1960. So that made his later disappointment with the party that much more hurtful for him, because he had named it, for crying out loud," said Clarke.

McCurdy was also almost an Olympian. Clarke said he missed being part of the 1956 Olympic team because he couldn't afford to go to training camp in Vancouver. McCurdy's favourite sports were the high jump and long jump, and "he was pretty good at sprinting."

Marium Tolson-Murtty knew the McCurdy family growing up. She now works as the director of anti-racism organizational change at the Office of the Vice President of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Windsor.

McCurdy had a lasting impact on her. 

She remembers seeing McCurdy's photo among all the pictures of the former presidents of the faculty association at the University of Windsor. It affirmed to her his reach within Windsor, within various pockets of the community, not only the Black community but the academic world as well.

"I think that just especially hit me just to know that, here it is. This brilliant Black man had just so much influence in so many different areas and wasn't necessarily boxed in," said Tolson-Murtty.

For her, his legacy lives on as a someone who accomplished many firsts, and as a person who was not afraid to speak up and be unapologetic about injustice. He was working toward advocacy, the Black liberation movement and equality for everyone, she said.

"I think it's just a shining example that anything is possible with hard work and dedication. You just you don't give up," she said.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.