Workshop Summary

“Love Yourz: Exploring Blackness, Masculinity, and Identity” is an interactive workshop designed for young Black teens to critically examine how race, gender, and identity intersect in their everyday lives.

Drawing from Matthew R. Morris’s book Black Boys Like Me: Confrontations with Race, Identity, and Belonging, as well as music, sport, visual art, and storytelling, participants will reflect on how Black masculinity is shaped within schools, peer groups, relationships, athletics, and public spaces. Together, we will explore the pressures, stereotypes, and expectations placed on Black boys—and how these narratives influence self-perception, behavior, and future opportunity.

Grounded in affirmation and honesty, this session invites participants to imagine a more expansive, fluid understanding of Black masculinity—one that makes room for vulnerability, creativity, intellectualism, athleticism, emotional depth, and joy. The workshop concludes with students developing a personal action plan to “Love Yourz” by embracing their full identities and committing to intentional growth through the remainder of the school year.

Course Objectives

Matthew Morris’s facilitation aligns deeply with the Kujitambua theme: Know Yourself, Reimagine your Future. Through “Love Yourz,” young Black men are invited into a brave, affirming space to critically explore the intersections of Blackness, masculinity, and identity.

Rooted in reflection, dialogue, and self-definition, this session supports:

Knowledge of Self
Participants will engage in critical self-reflection to examine how race and gender shape their thoughts, behaviors, and lived experiences. Youth will be encouraged to recognize their identity as dynamic, layered, and self-authored — not confined to one narrative.

Knowledge of Systems
The workshop explores how institutions — including schools, sports, media, peer groups, and relationships — influence and often constrain understandings of Black masculinity. Participants will identify and challenge limiting narratives and stereotypes that impact their development and expression.

Knowledge of Possibilities
By expanding awareness of the diversity and fluidity of Black masculinities, youth will reimagine what is possible for themselves beyond societal expectations. Each participant will develop a concrete, personalized action plan outlining intentional next steps for growth, balance, and self-definition.

“Love Yourz” embodies Kujitambua by affirming that Black masculinity is a powerful, evolving expression that each young man has the agency to define for himself.

About the Speaker

MATTHEW R. MORRIS is an educator and writer based out of Toronto. He is the author of the instant national best seller,“Black Boys Like Me: Confrontations with Race, Identity, and Belonging” which was nominated for the Heritage Toronto Book Award, longlisted for the Toronto Book Awards, an Apple Books Best Books of 2024, and CBC Books Best Canadian Nonfiction 2024. He earned a BA (Hons) and an MA in Social Justice Education from the University of Toronto.

In addition to teaching, his work and public speaking on the deconstruction of Black masculinity, hip-hop culture, and schooling has taken him across North America to consult on and learn about the challenges facing students and educators in the current education system.

In 2025, he received the King Charles III Coronation Medal, an achievement that honours individuals who have made a significant contribution to Canada. He has written articles for TVO, Huffington Post, ETFO Voice, and Education Canada magazine and in 2015, he delivered his TED Talk, “The Fresh Prince Syndrome”.

Morris has been featured in Toronto Star, Sun, the Globe and Mail and on CBC Radio and CityNews Toronto. He currently teaches in the Faculty of Education at Ontario Tech University and believes that the more credentials behind his name only equate to the more tattoos down his forearms.