Pictured Above: Two unidentified black ladies with Niagara Falls within the background. Courtesy of Brock College Particular Collections & Archives
February is Black Historical past Month, a date acknowledged as an annual month of remembrance of vital individuals and occasions in African-American historical past. Canadians and Individuals rejoice it this month, and the UK additionally acknowledges Black Historical past Month in October.
Niagara Falls is extra than simply town to go to so as to witness the majestic Falls, it additionally performed an energetic position for African-Individuals all through historical past.
The Underground Railroad
Between 1840 and 1860, enslaved Africans adopted the “Underground Railroad” to seek out freedom in Canada. It was not an precise railroad, however quite a secret community of routes and protected homes that helped individuals escape slavery and attain Canada, particularly after the US handed the “Fugitive Slave Act” in 1850. This allowed slave hunters to pursue and seize enslaved individuals in locations the place they might legally be free. Roughly 30,000 slaves have been in a position to escape alongside the Underground Railroad, and Niagara Falls was well-recognized as being a settling level for many individuals who escaped slavery in the USA.
Harriet Tubman
Some of the influential and empowering individuals to rejoice throughout Black Historical past Month in Niagara Falls, can be the girl who performed an enormous hand within the Underground Railroad and have become a heroine to many black individuals.
Harriet Tubman was born right into a plantation in Maryland proper into slavery. She was tormented with a lot cruelty as a field-hand. At age 13 she was struck within the head by a weight hurled by an overseer that will trigger seizures for the remainder of her life. After the dying of her grasp in 1849, she was frightened of being offered to the Deep South and escaped with out her husband to Philadelphia within the north. She started work as a cook dinner in resorts and golf equipment to finance excursions to liberate different slaves into the Underground Railroad.
She returned in 1850 to rescue her sister Mary Ann and her two youngsters. The Fugitive Slave Act got here into impact in 1850, so now Harriet may not discover full refuge within the northern states, so that’s when she started to convey them throughout the border into Niagara Falls, Canada. From there, they traveled to close by St. Catharines, the place they have been aided by the Reverend Hiram Wilson, an abolitionist and the chief of the native refugee group.
In 1851 Tubman moved to St. Catharines, which might be the centre of her anti-slavery actions for the following seven years.
Resulting from Harriet Tubman’s brave actions, St. Catharines shortly grew to 123 black households listed on the evaluation rolls in 1855. Between 1852 and 1857, Tubman made 11 journeys into the USA to rescue fugitives. What made her actions much more heroic was the $40,000 reward posted by a gaggle of slave-owners for her seize — lifeless or alive. Nobody rivaled Tubman within the variety of journeys and the variety of slaves liberated into the Underground Railroad.
Nathaniel Dett Memorial Chapel, 5674 Peer St., Niagara Falls
The church was in-built 1836 and in 1856, it was moved to Peer Avenue. The transfer was funded by a gentleman named Burr Plato, a fugitive from the US who prevailed over racist attitudes and have become the primary elected Black man in native authorities from 1886 to 1905. The Peer Avenue property was donated by Oliver Parnell, who had escaped slavery from Berlin, Maryland by swimming the Niagara River to freedom. As soon as in Canada, Pernell made his solution to the village of Drummondville, a part of present-day Niagara Falls, and settled there. Throughout this era, there have been many refugee slaves dwelling in Drummondville alongside Peer, Stanley, Ross, Gray and Robinson Streets.
The constructing was renamed in 1983 after Nathaniel Dett, who was born in Niagara Falls in 1882. Dett was a world-renowned musician and composer. This constructing is the third oldest church in Niagara Falls.
Considered one of Nathaniel Dett’s most performed items is known as “Within the Bottoms”. He wrote this piano piece for the scholars he taught musically in 1913. It’s being carried out by Leon Bates. This can be a portion of the second motion known as “His Music”.
Niagara Black Historical past Venues & Occasions
Resulting from fluctuating COVID-19 restrictions, we suggest guests contact companies instantly to substantiate availability.
Nathanial Dett Memorial Chapel of the British Methodist Episcopal Church
In 1836, the “British Methodist Episcopal Church” was constructed. The Nathaniel Dett Memorial Chapel is a Nationwide Historic Web site that’s a part of the Freedom Path’s Underground Railroad heritage locations of curiosity.
https://www.heritagetrust.on.ca/en/pages/our-stories/slavery-to-freedom/partners/nathaniel-dett-memorial-chapel-british-methodist-episcopal-church
Harriet Tubman Tribute
Harriet Tubman’s preliminary crossing into Canada in 1856 was commemorated by an explanatory plaque positioned by the Niagara Parks Fee in June 2017. She crossed the Niagara Parkway, north of the falls, on a suspension bridge close to the present Whirlpool Bridge Plaza. On the White Water Stroll and Whirlpool Bridge’s entry, search for a sequence of plaques.
https://www.cliftonhill.com/attractions/niagara-parks/white-water-walk
Niagara Falls Historical past Museum
All year long, the Niagara Falls Historical past Museum hosts black historical past displays.
https://www.cliftonhill.com/attractions/niagara-falls-history-museum
The Louis Roy Press and the 1793 Act Towards Slavery (Queenston)
Canada’s oldest wood printing press, which printed the 1793 Act Towards Slavery. Mackenzie Printery & Museum of Newspapers (Queenston)
https://www.cliftonhill.com/attractions/niagara-parks/mackenzie-printery
Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Middle (Niagara Falls, New York)
The Heritage Middle’s intention is to inform the true story of Niagara Falls’ Underground Railroad freedom seekers and abolitionists, inspiring guests to appreciate modern-day injustices stemming from slavery and take steps towards a extra truthful society.
The Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Middle is open from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Thursday – Sunday.
Occasions: https://www.niagarafallsundergroundrailroad.org/black-history-month/
Excursions: https://www.niagarafallsundergroundrailroad.org/tours-2/
Speaker Sequence on Black Historical past by the Niagara Parks Fee
With this multi-part on-line speaker sequence, find out about totally different viewpoints on Black historical past and tradition in Canada.
This yr’s Black Historical past Speaker Sequence is a digital occasion that can be live-streamed. Tickets give entry to those reside, interactive classes with high group historians and commentators specialising in Black historical past and tradition via any pc, pill, or cell machine.
Tickets are $15 for every occasion at 7:00 p.m., all classes start.
The Energy of Cultural Competence by Saladin Allah
7:00 P.M., FEBRUARY 24 – $15
What does it imply to be culturally competent, and why does it matter? How does cultural competency have an effect on our notion of the world and the way we work together with others? What does it imply in practise, and the way can we cross cultural divides in as we speak’s world? Saladin Allah, a recipient of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Civil Rights Achievement Award, can assist you reply these points on this enlightening session.
The speaker’s background: Saladin Allah is a author, radio host, youth advocate, and the 2019 Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Achievement Award laureate. Saladin is a commissioner for the Niagara Falls Human Rights Fee and works as a customer expertise specialist on the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Middle. As an educator and writer, he has contributed to a variety of international publications, together with the six-part docuseries “Enslaved,” government produced by Samuel L. Jackson. Saladin is the third-great grandson of Josiah Henson, the legendary Underground Railroad freedom seeker.
Self-Liberated and Well-known: Fugitive Freedom Seekers Escape to Niagara by Rochelle Bush
MARCH 31, 7:00 P.M. – $15
Study concerning the perilous journeys and triumphs of a few of the most well-known African Individuals who fled slavery and landed in Niagara. Study concerning the significance of the area’s place and the way Niagara grew to become a haven for runaway freedom seekers on this fascinating session.
The speaker’s background: Rochelle Bush is a public historian who grew up in St. Catharines. She is the proprietor and chief information of Tubman Excursions Canada, in addition to the resident historian of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad NHS and the Salem Chapel, BME NHS Church.
