George Boyd

George Elroy Boyd (1952–2020) was a pioneering Black Canadian playwright, journalist, and broadcaster. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he became Canada's first Black national television news anchor in 1992 as a co-host of CBC Morning Newsworld. Boyd's debut play, Shine Boy (1988), marked a significant milestone as he became the first African Nova Scotian to have a play professionally produced on the main stage of Halifax's Neptune Theatre. His acclaimed play Consecrated Ground (2000), which tells the story of the residents of Halifax's Africville, was nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award for Drama. Other notable works include Gideon's Blues, adapted into the film The Gospel According to the Blues (2010), Wade in the Water (2005), and Le Code Noir (2009), which explores the life of 18th-century composer Joseph Bologne, known as the "Black Mozart".