Donations In Memory of Salome Bey Going To Freedom School
The family of Canada’s First Lady of the Blues Salome Bey, who died Aug.
By Karen Bliss
The family of Canada’s First Lady of the Blues Salome Bey, who died Aug. 8 at Toronto’s Lakeside Long-Term Care Centre, at age 86, chose The Freedom School Toronto for anyone wishing to make a donation in her honour.
The American-born, Canadian-based singer-songwriter and actress had dementia since the 2000s, but her children — daughters Jacintha Tuku Matthews (known professionally as Tuku) and Saidah Baba Talibah (who performs as SATE), and son Marcus Matthews — instead of choosing a medical or health-related charity chose this Toronto school which provides liberatory education for Black children. Bey's husband, restauranteur Howard Berkeley Matthews (The Underground Railroad), died in 2016.
According to the Toronto’s school’s web site, Freedomschool (written as one word) “is a youth and parent-driven initiative that intervenes to fight against anti-Black racism in the school system and to creative educational alternatives for Black children. – Continue Karen Bliss’s story on the Samaritanmagwebsite.
Rogers Stadium during a rainy walkthrough in 2025.Courtesy Photo