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February is Black History Month
by Doug Mackey, North Bay Nugget, 1/30/2004
I mentioned several 2004 celebrations last week and today I want to bring one more to your attention and tell you about a related new television film I recently previewed.
I have written before about how thousands of blacks came to Southeast Ontario through Amherstburg or across the Detroit River via the Underground Railway. Slavery had been partially curtailed here in 1793 and fully in 1833.
There was some bias even after that so blacks gathered in enclaves in places like Chatham and Dresden. A complete black community was established at Buxton, Ont. and many blacks remain there today. Buxton is a National Historical Site and has a fine museum and annual homecoming each year. I visited Buxton with my grandson last summer and enjoyed it very much especially our visit with museum curator Sharon Prince.
A powerful new 30-minute film called Mother Tongue: The Other Side of History (Buxton) will premiere on TV Ontario Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m. to kick off Black History Month. (It is ironic that this will be right in the middle of the Super Bowl where 150 years after the Underground Railway most of the players are black, well paid and highly respected by millions.)
The new film is the first of a series of 13 films that will tell the story of ethnic groups from a strong female perspective. In the case of Buxton the story centres on a radiant and articulate 16-year-old black girl Toni Parker from Buxton whose great-great-grandmother Eliza Parker was a well known figure in black history.
Eliza as a teenager fled in a daring escape from Maryland, one of the non-abolitionist states to the freedom of Pennsylvania. The Fugitive Slave Act allowed slave owners to pursue slaves and black self defense leagues were formed to resist them. In one of these confrontations Eliza and her sister and other blacks fought in the Christiana Riots and fled to Ontario in a fascinating story told in the film. Eliza led a long life in Buxton and died at age 82 leaving 10 children. Great-great-grandaughter Toni, to learn more about her history, makes contact with a historian from Christiana, Penn., and an author who wrote a book on the riots and learned a lot about Eliza. We get to share and admire the story as it unfolds.
The Civil War which brought freedom to blacks in the U.S. drew many Ontario blacks back but many stayed. An annual Buxton homecoming brings Ontario and U.S. blacks and others together each year. One of the best parts of the film shows the reenactment of past events at the homecoming. Sharon Prince, the Curator of the Museum is one of the featured players. Sharon, Toni and Ella Forbes who wrote the Christiana book are strong and confident black women who are proud of their history. They gain our respect as I am sure adults and students will when they see the film. The film crew also visited Uncle TomÕs Cabin, the home of Josiah Henson whose history prompted the writing of the famous Uncle TomÕs Cabin book. The film shows some of the shackles and torture devices used to control slaves at one time.
The Buxton film ends with Toni Parker on the boardwalk on the Detroit River where she thinks about her great-great-grandmother and later places flowers at her gravesite.
The film and the 12 others in production are produced, directed, written and narrated by award winner Susan Poizner. The crew of her company Think Stock Inc. is very multicultural bringing an authenticity to the series called Mother Tongue (see mothertongue.ca).
This film and the others will be available to schools through an educational distributor and to individuals by contacting Susan Poizner through www.susanpoizner.com
The film will also be shown on TVO Feb. 7, on Canadian Learning Television Feb. 19 and Book television on Feb. 12 and 22. Check your local listings for those dates. For further information on Black History Month check the web under Black History Month. As a sign of the success of initiative you will note that there are more than one million items listed.
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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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