Newspaper Background
“ Al Hamilton (passed 1994). Hamilton came to Toronto in the 1950s he started working as a porter with Canadian Pacific Railway.Someone called him a racial slur – the ‘N-word’ — and Hamilton retaliated.“Al Hamilton decked the guy and let’s say Al had to find alternative employment and he ended up in prison. And when he went to prison, he reformed himself, came out and started a publication, Junior Achievement Awards and so on and so forth,” -Norman Otis Richmond, veteran journalist
Al Hamilton took over The West Indian News Observer newspaper, which printed from 1967-1969. With the assistance of Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange and Harold Hoyte, Hamilton started Contrast in 1969, operating on a bi-weekly schedule. Physical publication of the newspaper ended in 1983 when it was sold to Horace Gooden, who switched it to an online format a few years later. Their tagline was “The eyes, ears, and voice of the community” “
Written By: Nicholas PinnockYouth Griot of 2020
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THE GRIOT IN ME
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