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Black Canadians Getting Some Southern Appreciation


Better late than never. Rather than give you all a play by play of happenings at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center (OC) as our show was happening last fall and the past spring-- I'm going to catch you up on some of the highlights.

Last November 9, Descendants of the Black 1000: Flight From Oklahoma Black Towns to Canada https://oklahomacontemporary.org/exhibitions/recent/descendants-of-the-black-1000 to a record audience. Donna Paris and myself with curator Gay Pasley talked about what turned out to be newly discovered history for much of the people that attended the event. Aside from the descendants of the Black Oklahomans that migrated to predominantly Alberta and Saskatchewan, this was largely a new story. We shared our findings using primarily oral histories and photographs. Archival material was supplied by the OC which included the films of Sir Solomon Jones (part of the Yale University archives, films made in the mid 1920s showing affluent Black Oklahomans).



The next day, in order encourage a connection to both our and their bodies of work, OC showcased a performance piece by artists Ashanti Chaplin and Gabriel Royal

entitled, Dust to Dirge: An Earth Elegy. https://oklahomacontemporary.org/performance/past-performances/dust-to-dirge-an-earth-elegy The meditative piece lovingly acknowledged the presence and persistence of 13 of Oklahoma's Black towns.

On February 10, OC hosted a family focused event that featured art-making, performances and gallery adventures celebrating Descendants of the Black 1000. In the evening the documentary film, We Are The Roots, (produced by Bailey and Soda Films and Shiloh Centre for Multicultural Roots) was screened and discussed.

The experience in Oklahoma was both fascinating and fulfilling. Both Donna and I feel fortunate to have collaborated with such a caring and skilled organization of creatives, researchers and administrators. Thank you all. A special shout out to Gay Pasley, Joy Tucker, Pablo Barrera, Carina Evangelista, Beth CreMeens, and Casandra Watson.

Fortunately, this thread of knowledge will continue at the Art Gallery of Alberta in the winter of 2026. The perspective will be altered due to new sets of eyes and ears to interpret and mold the raw material of this remarkable story. There is still time for other interested parties to take up this and other narratives that are wrapped up in the larger project that we call Black Threads of the Canadian Tapestry. I'll do my best to keep everyone informed about its journey.

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