1971-04-21 - Mrs. Kathleen Livingston (left) and her sister, Mrs. Evelyn Johnson, at Beth Emmanuel Church, London, ON. (Courtesy: London Free Press Collection, Western University)
Museum London has partnered up with the London Black History Coordinating Committee to educate locals on Black history in the area. The project is a virtual tour of the historical sites in Essex-Windsor, Chatham-Kent, the London Region, and Oxford County. To participate, it’s as easy as downloading an app.
Each tour will begin with the Underground Railroad and thousands of formerly enslaved persons feeling the United States before the Civil War and then will feature more recent events. These include Emancipation Day celebrations and the Chatham All-Stars Baseball team.
“We’ve broken the area up into four regions,” says project participant, Michelle Edwards. “We have London and Middlesex, Essex-Windsor, Chatham-Kent, and Norwich. These four areas have pictures online and some stories so that people can educate themselves about the Black history in that region.”
The museum is currently doing a soft launch of this project and once phase two is released, before and after pictures of the sites will be added.
“The Black community has been in Southwestern Ontario since the 1800s and I’m not confident that people are as aware of that as I would like. I’m not sure that they’re aware of the rich contributions that the Black community has provided.”
Edwards says that her hope for this virtual tour is to inspire people to go see these historical sites.
“I would love to think that this app encourages people to hop in a car and go for a tour, learn more about their area, and the contributions of Black Canadians.”
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Dresden, Ontario, c. 1930. (Courtesy: Landon Papers, Western University)
This project was made possible through a “Healthy Communities” grant.
For anyone interested in learning more, the app is available on onthisspot.ca. The London Black History Coordinating Committee also has lots of events happening over the course of Black History Month and those can be viewed here.
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