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Documentary Tells Eliza Parker's Story
by Ellwood Shreve, Chatham Daily News, 1/17/2004
NORTH BUXTON - Another aspect of the rich black history in this hamlet will be featured in a television documentary that portrays the past from a woman's perspective.
The first of a 13-part series, titled "Mother Tongue: The Other Side of History" airs Feb. 1 on TV Ontario at 7:30 p.m.
The half-hour documentary will tell the story of Eliza Parker, a runaway slave and freedom fighter, through the voice of her great-great-great granddaughter Toni Parker, 16.
Toni, of North Buxton, was centre stage during the busiest time of the year in this community, because filming took place at the annual Homecoming celebration last Labour Day weekend. Film footage of the Chatham-Kent region also includes the Buxton National Historic Site and Uncle Tom's Cabin.
"I guess it never really hit me until people were talking to me and asking about (the project)," she said.
Toni relates the story of her great-great-great grandmother's role in the 1851 Christina Riot in Pennsylvania.
The riot was sparked by a slave-owner travelling to the "free state" to reclaim escaped slaves. Eliza, who later moved to Buxton, played a significant role in this historic event by sounding the alarm to warn the freed slaves there was trouble.
It is the opinion of many historians that the Christina Riot triggered the Civil War in the United States.
Toni, who is a summer student at the Buxton National Historic Site, took the opportunity to access the information there to learn more about her great-great-great grandmother before filming started.
What surprised her about Eliza was "how courageous and strong-willed she was at that time."
While the focus of the program is on the Christina Riot, Toni was astounded by another incident that happened prior to that event when Eliza and some other slaves were trying to escape their slave master in Maryland.
Toni said Eliza enlisted the help of a neighbour who was supposed to transport her and some other slaves, hidden in compartments in a wagon, to freedom. It turned out the slave master paid off the neighbour, who just travelled in circles all night.
Her great-great-great grandmother was so angry to discover they had only travelled a few miles that Eliza killed her neighbour.
"It surprised me, in a way," Toni said, adding she expected one of the men would take that kind of drastic action, not a woman.
The documentary series is being produced and directed by Toronto-area journalist Susan Poizner, who is telling women's history through their female descendants.
When she contacted local historians Bryan and Shannon Prince about suggestions for an interesting female to portray with a living descendent, Poizner admits she wasn't expecting a 16-year-old girl would tell the story.
She was also surprised at Toni's "passion and knowledge of Eliza.
"It was a pleasure to work with her," she added.
Poizner wants to provide a different view of history with her documentary series.
"I thought there was a need to tell stories of Canadian ethnic history from a woman's perspective," Poizner said.
In particular, she wants people to know the important role women played in Canadian history.
Poizner deals with a lot of academics and educators in her line of work and has been told by many of them that more needs to be done to educate people about women in Canadian history
"It's as if women didn't do anything in history except clean the house and cook the food," she said.
Poizner said women did amazing things and believes Eliza Parker's story will prove that.
"I think people will be enlightened and empowered" about the series, she said, adding the stories she plans to tell will "show people in general can make difference."
Poizner has made her own discovery about the richness of Canada's history while working on this project. An award winning journalist who spent 17 years living and working in countries including Russian, Israel and the United Kingdom, she admits: "I thought that Canada was boring and everyone had blonde hair and blue eyes and played hockey.
"In the end, what was surprising to me is Canada is filled with these wonderful ethnic communities."
Mother Tongue: The Other Side of History will be repeated on TV Ontario Feb. 7 at 12:30 p.m. The program will also air twice in the same day on Canadian Learning Television, Feb. 9 at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Book TV is also carrying the show, Feb. 17, at 9 p.m. MNT, and Feb. 22, at 6 p.m. MNT.
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This series of educational videos was made possible with funding from
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Mother Tongue: A woman's history of ethnic Canada is a 13-part TV series that documents Canada's multicultural history from a female perspective. Each program tells the story of a notable woman in one of Canada's communities, including a Black fugitive slave, an Acadian mail order bride, and an Icelandic suffragette.
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