On this episode of Museum Chat Live!, your hosts Sara and Abbey explore how stories that are not based in historical evidence make their way into collective historical narratives, why fiction sometimes spurs from historical fact, and how folklore, myths, and legends can be addressed and interpreted to museum audiences.
General Tubman: St. Catharines, 1858 – Part I
At the start of 1858 Tubman was living in the boarding house she rented in St. Catharines, Canada West (now Ontario) with her elderly parents; Benjamin Ross Sr. and Ritta ‘Rit’ Green Ross. The town of St. Catharines was a hub for abolitionist activity. With a population of about 6,500 in 1857, around 600 were people of African descent, and the majority of them were self-liberated African Americans.
Museum Classroom: Mapping the Promised Land
Using an 1850 map of the Niagara Peninsula, follow the instructions below to colour in the areas in Niagara connected to the Underground Railroad. As you colour, consider the routes of the Underground Railroad into Canada and how the Black community built new lives in Niagara.
Museum Classroom: Follow the North Star Activity Pages
Living in Canada today, we are all free. What does freedom mean to you? Why does freedom matter? What is the opposite of being free? Print out the colour page below and write down your thoughts.
Museum Classroom: Letters to Harriet
Tubman’s connection to St. Catharines is significant. Tubman lived in St. Catharines and used the city as her base of operations from 1850-1857 and even attended the Salem Chapel – B.M.E. Church that still operates on Geneva Street. An important historical figure in both Canadian and American history, Harriet Tubman also worked for the Union Army during the American Civil War, serving as a cook, nurse and even a spy!
Narratives of Fugitive Slaves – Part 3
“Rents and provisions are dear here, and it takes all I can earn to support myself and my children. I could have one of my children well brought up and taken care of, by some friends in Massachusetts, which would much relieve me, but I cannot have my child go there on account of the laws, which would not protect her. This is a hardship: but had I to struggle much harder than at present, I would prefer it to being a slave. Now I can lie down at night in peace – there I had no peace even at night, on account of my master’s conduct.” – Mrs. Ellis (pp 63-64).
Museum Chat Live! E102
Museum Chat Live! is back with another neat-o episode dedicated to our special Books & Brews series, and our February book selection: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. Kathy, Adrian, and Sara chat about some of the historic and famous myths about the Underground Railroad, and the important role that St. Catharines played in the history and lives of refugee slaves.
Narratives of Fugitive Slaves – Part 2
I have seen hundreds of escaped slaves, but I never saw one who was willing to go back and be a slave. I have no opportunity to see my friends in my native land. We would rather stay in our native land, if we could be as free there as we are here. I think slavery is the next thing to hell. If a person would end another into bondage, he would, it appears to me, be bad enough to send him into hell, if he could.
Narratives of Fugitive Slaves – Part 1
St. Catharines played an important part in the success of the Underground Railroad. In railroad speak, the city was a destination, or terminal for refugee slaves. Many who made it to Canada settled in the city, which for reasons associated with the success of the Welland Canal, was, by mid-19th century standards, a thriving and bustling city rivaling Hamilton and London in population and industrial activity.
Post Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad is an important part of St. Catharines’ history – but the journey of freedom seekers out of […]