Researching Black History in London, Ontario: The Black Londoners Project

In 1856, Benjamin Drew, an American abolitionist, traveled to Canada to transcribe the oral stories of formerly enslaved Black men and women. Among them were 16 individuals who settled in London, Ontario, one of whom was a former Rochester resident. Their narratives, recorded in Drew’s book, A North-Side View of Slavery, describe their former enslavers, their escapes, and how they made it to Canada.

But what of their lives afterwards?

With Drew’s accounts as their starting point, Western University researchers Alyssa MacLean and Miranda Green-Barteet are working to trace the paths these self-liberated individuals took after arriving in London and better understand their experiences in the area. By documenting these journeys through an interactive website hosted by Western Libraries,  MacLean and Miranda Green-Barteet aim to address a longstanding gap in the history of Black Londoners.

Alyssa MacLean is an Assistant Professor in in the Department of English and Writing Studies at Western University. Her research examines the literary relationship between Canada and the United States in historical and contemporary contexts. Along with Miranda Green-Barteet, she is working on The Black Londoners Project, which is funded by the Social Sciences Humanities Research Council of Canada. She is also working on a book project examining how nineteenth-century American authors developed ideas about U.S. citizenship, racial identity, and national belonging through their literary representations of Canada.

David Mitterauer is a sixth-year PhD Candidate in English at Western University. He specializes in early American literature and early Black writing. His dissertation is on wonder and the phenomenology of mediation in Black autobiographies and fictions of the long eighteenth century.

Registration for this free program is recommended but not required.

This is an in-person program that will also be livestreamed at:

https://www.youtube.com/@RochesterPublicLibraryNY/streams

Presented by the Local History & Genealogy Division: (585) 428-8370