Natasha Henry is an educator, historian, and curriculum consultant, specializing in the development of learning materials that focus on the African Diasporic experience. She is the author of Emancipation Day: Celebrating Freedom in Canada (Natural Heritage Books/ Dundurn Group).

Her latest book, Talking About Freedom: Celebrating Freedom in Canada (January 2012), makes a little-known part of Canadian history accessible to the teen reader by exploring both the background to August 1st commemorations across Canada and the importance of these long-established annual celebrations. It illustrates the connection between the Caribana festivities in Toronto and Emancipation Day, examines why some communities are restoring Emancipation Day celebrations, and links the ongoing struggles of people of African ancestry to the past and the future.