Dave Watkins was born and raised in Windsor Ontario. A three-sport athlete at Kennedy Collegiate Institute Dave eventually became a member of Canada’s Junior National Track and field team, and was a four-year Letterman at Indiana State University. Dave soon found himself back in his hometown taking courses at the University of Windsor where he earned a B.A. in Visual arts as well as an Education degree.

Dave was soon hired with the then Scarborough Board of Education where he taught at the primary, junior and intermediate levels. During this time Dave also became a published comic book artist, speaker, and a producer of digital entertainment. As a self-described ‘professional eclectic’ Dave used his experiences to enrich his classroom as well as found the African Youth Diaspora Conference at the University of Windsor. These experiences eventually helped him to be recognized by Niagara University’s Teacher of the Year in 2007 as well as being honoured as a recipient of the Governor General’s Award for excellence in Teaching History in November of 2007.

Dave is now teaching History and Social Sciences at George Harvey Collegiate Institute. He believes that studying history is a key to self-determination. In his Canadian-African studies course students use the study of Canadian history to focus on their cultures’ contributions to the multicultural fabric of Canada and the World.