With over thirty Black History resources, there is plenty of Museum content to catch up on this Black History Month. Use this resource to explore the Museum’s digital content archive. Blog posts, lectures, presentations and podcasts detailing Black History in St. Catharines are all included.
Blog Articles
Bush, Rochelle. “General Tubman: St. Catharines, 1858.” Museum Chat. St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre, February 3, 2021. http://bit.ly/3vXmYNy.
This is the first in a guest blog series written by Rochelle Bush, resident historian of Salem Chapel BME Church and community advocate in St. Catharines, as part of the Museum’s 2021 Black History Month commemorations. The series tells the history of Harriet Tubman and the abolitionist and underground railroad activity in St. Catharines.
Leonard, Meredith. “Richard Pierpoint.” Museum Chat. St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre, February 2, 2016. http://bit.ly/3H70Ve1.
This blog post introduces Richard Pierpoint. Pierpoint was one of the earliest Black residents of St. Catharines, who fought for the British during the American Revolution and the War of 1812.
Leonard, Meredith. “Salem Chapel, BME Church and Zion Baptist Church.” Museum Chat. St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre, February 1, 2016. https://bit.ly/3ZsI2co .
This blog post introduces Salem Chapel and Zion Baptist Churches. Both Churches were essential centres for the Freedom Seeker Community during the Underground Railroad Era.
Nixon, Sara. “BHM Part 3: What Can We Learn from a Toy Doll?” Museum Chat. St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre, February 21, 2018. http://bit.ly/3WjsMvT.
This blog article details a doll in the Museum collection that was made to represent Harriet Tubman. It was created to provide Black children with a toy they could identify with.
Nixon, Sara. “Family Legacies – The Nicholson-Smith Family.” Museum Chat. St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre, February 13, 2018. http://bit.ly/3IKBq39 .
This article chronicles three generations of the Nicholson- Smith family in St. Catharines and their contributions to the community.
Petry, Adrian. “How to Reconcile the Good and Bad Parts of Our History.” Museum Chat. St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre, February 27, 2018. http://bit.ly/3QvRwzw.
This Blog article discusses the 1793 Act Against Slavery, the 1833 Act for the Abolition of Slavery, James Grant and the First World War, and Charles Summers and the Fair Accommodations Practices Act 1959.
Petry, Adrian. “The Howe Report.” Museum Chat. St Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre, February 7, 2020. http://bit.ly/3Xv7FHS .
This blog series takes an in-depth look at the 1864 report, “The Refugees from Slavery in Canada West Report to the Freedmen’s Inquiry Commission.” The report written by Samuel G. Howe details the results of inquiries, interviews, and observations.
Petry, Adrian. “Narratives of Fugitive Slaves.” Museum Chat. St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre, February 5, 2017. http://bit.ly/3iqzvpT .
This blog series shares Benjamin Drew’s interviews from the book, The Refugee and provides information and context to give a more comprehensive picture of the refugee slave experience on the Underground Railroad and settlement in Canada.
Petry, Adrian. “Using Our Past to Inspire Us to Compassion and Action.” Museum Chat. St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre, February 6, 2018. http://bit.ly/3Zxvctl .
This blog article uses Black History events in the nineteenth century to draw parallels to events in the twenty-first century. The Riot of 1852, the Stagecoach Boycott of 1854, and the aftermath of these events are detailed.
Stansfield, Abbey. “Abolitionist Activities in St. Catharines.” Museum Chat. St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre, February 11, 2022. http://bit.ly/3CLqb6K .
This blog article details the abolitionist activity in St. Catharines during the Underground Railroad Era. St. Catharines attracted many well-known abolitionists in the Underground Railroad era, including Harriet Tubman and Hiram Wilson.
Stansfield, Abbey. “Letters from St. Catharines.” Museum Chat. St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre, February 18, 2022. http://bit.ly/3IJxQGD .
This blog article examines the letters from the book the Underground Railroad as a means of better understanding the transition period Freedom Seekers experienced when they reached St. Catharines.
Stansfield, Abbey. “Prioritizing Education.” Museum Chat. St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre, February 26, 2022. http://bit.ly/3iJsW1w .
This blog post discusses the importance Freedom Seekers placed on ensuring their children received an education. It details the options available to Freedom Seekers and their children and the prejudices in the system.
Stansfield, Abbey. “Welcome to St. Catharines, Canada West.” Museum Chat. St. Catharines Museum and Welland Canals Centre, February 3, 2022. http://bit.ly/3k8CQKt .
This Blog article discusses abolitionist Mary Shadd’s work, “A Plea for Emigration,” as a means of sharing information on Canada with Freedom Seekers.
Lectures
Bush, Rochelle. “Discovering Niagara’s Freedom Trail.” Virtual Museum Lecture Series. Lecture. Accessed January 18, 2023. https://youtu.be/cSCSpj6Z9PA .
This Lecture features Rochelle Bush speaking on Niagara’s Freedom Trail – the loosely connected network of important heritage sites, museums, and other historical places connected to the story of freedom and the Underground Railroad throughout Niagara.
Bush, Rochelle. “Visiting Abolitionists.” Virtual Museum Lecture Series. Lecture. Accessed January 18, 2023. https://youtu.be/aOtMZ5G-gnc .
This lecture features Rochelle Bush, local BME Salem Chapel historian discussing the many abolitionists who visited St. Catharines during the long fight for emancipation in the United States.
Finkenbine, Roy. “The Indigenous Underground Railroad.” Virtual Museum Lecture Series. Lecture, 2022. https://youtu.be/dIulMBecxUo .
In the lecture, Dr. Roy Finkenbine, professor of history and Director of the Black Abolitionist Archive at the University of Detroit Mercy, presents the significant role Indigenous peoples played in facilitating the movement of Freedom Seekers on the Underground Railroad.
Henry, Natasha. “Emancipation Day.” Virtual Museum Lecture Series. Lecture, 2022. https://youtu.be/vZW2iCNXXCg .
In this lecture, Natasha Henry, historian and president of the Ontario Black History Society, discusses the history of Emancipation Day in Canada and highlights how the pursuit of freedom and citizenship has been integral to the long tradition of the movement for Black lives.
Henry, Natasha. “Ontario’s Racially Segregated Schools.” Virtual Museum Lecture Series. 2022. https://youtu.be/CM1c0XbHMps .
This lecture features guest historian and President of the Ontario Black History Society, Natasha Henry, who speaks about the not-so-distant history of Ontario’s racially segregated schools.
Nixon, Sara, and Adrian Petry. “The Howe Report.” Virtual Museum Lecture Series. Lecture. Accessed January 18, 2023. https://youtu.be/98bzNTEUh7o .
In this lecture, Visitor Services Coordinator Adrian Petry and Public Programmer Sara Nixon speak on the influential and revealing ‘Howe Report.’ Commissioned in 1863 by the United States Congress Freedman’s Inquiry Commission and written by Samuel Gridley Howe, the report reveals the conditions of Freedom Seekers in St. Catharines.
Nixon, Sara. “Myths of the Underground Railroad.” Virtual Museum Lecture Series. Lecture, February 16, 2021. https://youtu.be/-CmCYjpO6T4 .
This lecture reviews the myths we are taught about the Underground Railroad and what they can teach us about history.
Nixon, Sara. “Tracing the Tracks of the Underground Railroad.” Virtual Museum Lecture Series. Lecture, July 10, 2020. https://youtu.be/X3o_q8N-2Dk .
This lecture uses the remaining primary sources to separate the fiction from the fact of information surrounding the underground railroad and the route that led to St. Catharines.
Petry, Adrian. “Upper Canada’s Black Defenders.” Virtual Museum Lecture Series. Lecture. Accessed January 18, 2023. https://youtu.be/YWdc_SvBNDA .
In this lecture, Visitor Services Coordinator, Adrian Petry, discusses the Coloured Corps militia unit, which took on many tense, violent, and deadly altercations and riots with skill in what can only be described as Niagara’s ‘Wild West’ between the 1830s and 1851.
Stansfield, Abbey. “The Daily Grind.” Virtual Museum Lecture Series. Lecture. Accessed January 18, 2023. https://youtu.be/3iAA0m0MELc .
In this lecture, Public Programmer, Abbey Stansfield, examines the daily life of Freedom Seekers as they settle into their new home in St. Catharines.
History From Here
Nixon, Sara. “Richard Pierpoint.” Video blog. History From Here (video series), 2021. https://youtu.be/aOsfbz8M4SE .
This video details Richard Pierpoint, who was forced into slavery as a young man, a solider in the American War of Independence, vital to the formation of the first all-Black military unit in the area, and served as a symbol of fortitude, perseverance, and survival.
Nixon, Sara. “The Welland House.” Video blog. History from Here (blog), 2021. https://youtu.be/7e1LZu7NcqI .
This video details the Welland House, a remnant of St. Catharines’ salt-spring tourism, a place of employment for Freedom Seekers, and a gathering place for locals and visitors alike.
Podcasts
Nixon, Sara, and Adrian Petry. “E607- The Howe Report.” Audio blog. Museum Chat Live! (blog), 2021. http://bit.ly/3ktcMtU.
In this episode of the Museum Chat Live! podcast Public Programmer Sara Nixon, and Visitor Services Coordinator, Adrian Petry revisit their lecture on the Howe Report presented as a part of the Museum’s Virtual Museum Lecture Series in November of 2020. The lecture focused on the Howe Report, or using its proper name, “The Refugees from Slavery in Canada West: a Report to the Freedman’s Inquiry Commission,” written by Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe after his visit to St. Catharines in 1863 to report on the condition of refugee Freedom Seekers to Congress. Howe’s interviews were transcribed and reveal a lot about our community in 1863.