Shovels not RiflesHistorical young adult fiction set in the First World War featuring a young African Nova Scotian in the No. 2 Construction Battalion who faces racism and discrimination from his fellow Canadians. Shovels Not Rifles is the story of Will, a young Black man from a small Nova Scotia town who enlists and goes to war in the historical Black Battalion in 1916. When Coloured men are finally allowed to enlist in the Canadian military, Will Coleman has a chance to make his late father proud, see the world and earn enough money to take care of his mother. Immediately after joining the No. 2 Construction Battalion, he learns that the members of Canada’s only all-Black battalion are not allowed to fight on the front lines. Instead, they are assigned the same forestry work they were doing at home. Not only that, Will is the target of racism and discrimination by superiors and many fellow soldiers who refuse to accept a “checkerboard army”. Alongside his fellow soldiers in the No. 2 Construction Battalion, Will slowly faces the harsh realities of the war -- and the country he wanted to fight for. |
Contents
IN MEMORY OF | 5 |
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 6 |
AUTHORS NOTE | 7 |
PROLOGUE | 15 |
Chapter 1 | 18 |
Chapter 2 | 25 |
Chapter 3 | 32 |
Chapter 4 | 39 |
Chapter 22 | 160 |
Chapter 23 | 167 |
Chapter 24 | 173 |
Chapter 25 | 176 |
Chapter 26 | 181 |
Chapter 27 | 190 |
Chapter 28 | 197 |
Chapter 29 | 204 |
Chapter 5 | 45 |
Chapter 6 | 50 |
Chapter 7 | 55 |
Chapter 8 | 64 |
Chapter 9 | 75 |
Chapter 10 | 83 |
Chapter 11 | 90 |
Chapter 12 | 103 |
Chapter 13 | 110 |
Chapter 14 | 118 |
Chapter 15 | 125 |
Chapter 16 | 130 |
Chapter 17 | 133 |
Chapter 18 | 137 |
Chapter 19 | 145 |
Chapter 20 | 148 |
Chapter 21 | 156 |
Chapter 30 | 211 |
Chapter 31 | 224 |
Chapter 32 | 229 |
Chapter 33 | 232 |
Chapter 34 | 235 |
Chapter 35 | 239 |
Chapter 36 | 243 |
Chapter 37 | 250 |
Chapter 38 | 261 |
Chapter 39 | 267 |
Chapter 40 | 272 |
Chapter 41 | 275 |
Chapter 42 | 280 |
Chapter 43 | 290 |
Epilogue | 298 |
Resources | 303 |