TORONTO, ON - The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) has presented Brock Greenhalgh with its 2021 Children’s Literature Award for his book entitled Hard Road to Victory: The Chatham All-Stars Story. Greenhalgh is a teacher with the Waterloo Region Teacher Local. 

This award is presented to an active ETFO member or an individual or group who do not hold ETFO membership to recognize a specific piece of published children’s literature appropriate for elementary school age children. This award recognizes quality children’s literature that is in keeping with ETFO’s position on social justice and equity. 

Hard Road to Victory: The Chatham All-Stars Story is a historical non-fiction text that highlights the achievements of the 1934 Chatham Coloured All-Stars, an all-Black baseball team who competed for, and won, the provincial championship more than a decade before Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s colour barrier. 

“We live in a society characterized by individual and systemic discrimination against particular groups. This was a reality in 1934, when Hard Road to Victory: The Chatham All-Stars Story was set, and it continues to be a reality in 2021,” says ETFO President Sam Hammond. “This book teaches children about the obstacles racialized groups continue to face today, and highlights a piece of this province’s history that needs to be told.”

ETFO represents 83,000 elementary public school teachers, occasional teachers and education professionals across the province. Its Building Better Schools education agenda can be viewed at BuildingBetterSchools.ca.

Media Contact: Carla Pereira, ETFO Media Relations, 416-576-9074 or cpereira@etfo.org.