In 2020, a few months after American civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis died, Judith Brown, Queen’s University Council member and Kingston school board trustee, gave a speech titled “Trustee Talk on Anti-Black Racism.” In it, she channelled Mr. Lewis, who had been beaten by police during a 1965 march in Selma, Ala.
“Never ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble,” she said, quoting Mr. Lewis.
Over more than 50 years in Kingston, Mrs. Brown, BA’69, was always willing to make some “good trouble” to help those around her.
As an elementary school teacher, she raised awareness among colleagues about anti-Black bias in the classroom. As a Kingstonian, she championed the often-overlooked stories of Black Canadians. As a Queen’s alumna, she fought discrimination and built community.
“She was instrumental in making sure that Black students at Queen’s had their dignity recognized and their ambitions realized,” says her niece, Deanna Heron, ConEd’92. “She would meet with Queen’s principals, whether they wanted to or not. She did not shy away from difficult conversations. But she would help you find solutions, too.”
Mrs. Brown’s combination of energy, intellect, experience, and a vibrant personality with a warm smile made her a mentor to generations at Queen’s.
“She was really everybody’s Aunt Judi,” Ms. Heron says.
Mrs. Brown passed away at Providence Care Hospital in Kingston on Oct. 11, 2024. She was 81. She is survived by her three sons, her daughter, and her five grandchildren. Her husband, John Brown, died in 2019.
Mrs. Brown’s involvement with Queen’s took many forms. She served on University Council from 2019 to 2023 and taught in the Faculty of Education. She co-organized the university’s Black History Month opening ceremony and was a Queen’s Black Alumni Chapter member.
But her greatest impact may have been with students, whether it was connecting Black students on campus or supporting their ideas.
Stephanie Simpson, Artsci’95, Ed’97, MEd’11, LLM’19, met Mrs. Brown as an undergraduate in the mid-1990s. Ms. Simpson, then president of the Queen’s Black History Collective, wanted to nurture links between the new student group and Kingston’s wider community. Mrs. Brown, a strong advocate of Black Canadian history, played an important role in helping.
“She was instrumental in making sure that Black students at Queen’s had their dignity recognized and their ambitions realized.”
For years, “Black history in Canada was understood through the lens of African-American history,” Ms. Simpson says. “But Judi focused on Canadian Black history and, more specifically, Kingston Black history.”
Mrs. Brown spoke frequently on this topic – at libraries, Black History Month events, and anywhere people would listen. She highlighted figures such as Canadian civil rights pioneer Viola Desmond and Queen’s alumnus Robert Sutherland.
Sutherland (1830–1878), the first person of colour to graduate from Queen’s in 1852 and British North America’s first known Black university graduate, left his $12,700 estate to the university. That bequest allowed Queen’s to avoid annexation by the University of Toronto during a financial crisis in the 1870s.
For years, his legacy was forgotten. Mrs. Brown was among a vocal and passionate group of students, staff, faculty, and alumni who sought to change that. In 2001, the Afro-Caribe Community Foundation of Kingston, which she helped found, established the Robert Sutherland Memorial Admission Award for first-year undergraduate students.
“Judi had such a generous and vibrant spirit about her,” recalls Ms. Simpson, now Queen’s vice-principal (culture, equity, and inclusion). “She was an adviser and guide to a lot of people.”
Mrs. Brown was born Judith Elaine Wellman in Pembroke Parish, Bermuda, on Feb. 15, 1943. Her father was a mason while her mother stayed home with Judi and her siblings.
Bermuda in the 1940s and ’50s was a segregated society where a small white population controlled the British Overseas Territory. Hotels, restaurants, and cinemas openly discriminated. Later in life, Mrs. Brown recalled attending segregated schools, sitting in the Black section at church, and not being allowed upstairs in movie theatres to watch from the good seats.
A Bermuda government scholarship brought her to Canada in the 1960s, where she attended Ottawa Teachers’ College. She returned home to teach, then enrolled in Queen’s courses offered in Bermuda. There, she met John Brown, a Jamaican studying to become a teacher.
They lost touch when John moved to Kingston. Later, Mrs. Brown arrived to pursue her degree at Queen’s. She asked other Caribbean students if they knew a John Brown. Soon the pair reunited, and, in 1969, married.
Kingston became their home. John was hired by the Limestone District School Board. Mrs. Brown began teaching in local prisons, then joined the board herself, teaching Grades 7, 8, and kindergarten.
“She loved children and she loved teach-ing,” says her son Andrew Brown, Artsci’94. “She saw how important education was as a foundation for success.”
He also remembers how quickly she embraced life in Canada. When Andrew and his brothers asked to play hockey (“My mom and dad didn’t grow up with hockey,” he says), she instantly became a fan, cheering from the stands in freezing rinks.
Having experienced discrimination, Mrs. Brown didn’t hesitate to advocate when others were mistreated, including her children. Whether dealing with playground name-calling or unequal treatment in the classroom, she was quick to act.
Andrew recalls: “My mom had a big personality and so she would march right down the next day to the teacher or vice-principal and ask them what they were going to do about it.” But she wasn’t confrontational, he adds. “Her style was to encourage people to do better.”
Retirement didn’t slow her. Instead, she launched a second act abroad, teaching in elementary schools in Cairo and Shanghai.
Next came public service. In 2018, at age 75, she ran for school board trustee in Kingston – and won. Four years later, she was re-elected with 45 per cent of the vote.
Krishna Burra, ConEd’96, Limestone’s director of education, worked with her in those years. “She had so much lived experience, wisdom, and kindness. When she spoke, you couldn’t help being moved by her words.”
In 2019, the Kingston branch of the Queen’s Alumni Association presented her with the prestigious Jim Bennett Award for her efforts to advance racial inclusion on campus. Three years later, the Ontario Public School Board Association gave her the Dr. Harry Paikin Award of Merit for her outstanding service as a trustee.
She took such recognition in stride, always focused on the work ahead. “Every little change can lead to a big difference,” she once said. Mrs. Brown’s life was proof of that.
