Students Celebrate Florence Harrison’s Remarkable Educational Legacy

By Neil Armstrong
Being in the right place at the right time is something that Loris Thomas, president of the Congress of Black Women of Canada – Ontario Chapter, knows well, and doing so sparked the idea of editing a book comprising an interview and a collection of testimonials celebrating a retired phenomenal educator, Florence Harrison, who taught at York Memorial Collegiate Institute from 1970 to 1999.

On August 26, many former students of Harrison, who is from Windsor, Ontario, and taught in the Toronto District School Board for almost 30 years, gathered at Blackhurst Cultural Centre for the launch of “A Legacy of Education: In HER FLO,” a tribute to a distinguished educator and her impact on Black students. Harrison travelled with three of her sisters to attend the event which lionized her.
Thomas said the idea for the book was a personal project of hers conceived in 2018 when she attended an event in Toronto where Harrison, who resides in Canada and the United States, was honoured by former students.

Sitting there and listening to the glowing tributes of Harrison’s impact on their lives as they navigated high school in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, prompted her to think about ways that other educators could learn about the beloved retired teacher.

Many of the students were Caribbean immigrants to Canada and it was challenging for them to get through school and life. They said Harrison went out of her way to make them feel included and created a safe space for them. The former students recounted how at times Harrison put her career on the line for them.

In the early 1970s, Reunited African People (RAP), a coalition Black youth group, was established under Harrison’s leadership.

“Florence Harrison is an educator, guidance counsellor, community activist, and she made a great difference in the life of many students,” said Thomas who met Harrison in 1974 and they became fast friends.

Harrison also worked as a guidance counsellor at the career centre at George Harvey Secondary School helping students to navigate postsecondary and career planning.

“I believe that both Black and white educators and guidance counsellors doing this work today need to hear these stories. I believe that we can learn from what Flo’s past students have to say about her guidance and mentorship during a very radical time in Toronto’s school system; how she helped them to navigate their journey through some of the challenges that Black students faced at the time.”

Thomas, a longtime volunteer with the Congress of Black Women of Canada, knows the challenges that Black students experience and shared her project idea with Itah Sadu, executive director of Blackhurst Cultural Centre, in 2025 seeking a way to bring it to life.

She also collaborated with O. Dane Lawrence, one of Harrison’s former students, to reach out to his colleagues for testimonials to make the book a reality.

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