New museum exhibit highlights Black community builders in Perth County

The Black History Project Series: Phase II, part of the permanent exhibit We’ve Been Here, will launch Feb. 21 at the Stratford Perth Museum.

The museum will unveil three large framed images in its indoor Co-operators Theatre during the event. Each design correlates with three powerful, local stories of historical community builders throughout Perth County. These community builders – Sylvia (Young) Porter, Joseph Harrison and Ben Sleet – will be featured along with their stories.

CBC broadcast journalist Garvia Bailey, the driving force behind the exhibit, said that after visiting the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum, she learned there were censuses from around the county of Black people, including previously enslaved men and women who came through Buxton, likely via the Underground Railroad, and settled throughout southwestern Ontario.

She said that after learning about the rich Black history that helped build Perth County, she knew she wanted to highlight some of the men and women who built communities throughout southwestern Ontario.

“I really believe that history informs who we are now,” she said. “It's always a living entity. History is not something that we just look at from the rear-view mirror. It actually forms where we're driving towards.”

One of the highlighted stories is that of Porter, a Black woman who lived in the Stratford area in the 1800s after escaping enslavement and coming to Canada. Her story was significant enough to be covered in newspapers across the United States and Canada. Her former enslavers attempted to kidnap her and take her back to the United States from Stratford. However, the constabulary refused outright and warned that if they tried to take her, they themselves would be jailed.

Bailey said bringing these stories to life and learning how people like Porter helped build local communities shows there is more to Perth County than the one-dimensional history that has often been portrayed.

“I thought, how do we tell people's stories now, but also get into the building of Stratford? because as old as Stratford is, its history has been told from a very specific perspective.”

Bailey said the project is also deeply personal.

“At the end of the day, this is the place that nurtured me and my family, my mom and dad, who are now in their 80s and 90s, this is the place that nurtured us, my brothers and sisters, who have been able to thrive and have really great lives. It's all because we were able to find community and show our own pride for who we are. So I am proud. I am proud to be doing this project, but I'm even more proud of what we're uncovering about the community that we live.”

The three individuals highlighted, along with their families, contributed to the foundations of the region’s settlement through industry, economic acumen, and social and cultural development.

A panel discussion on Feb. 22, directed by Bailey, will provide a behind-the-scenes look at the project and its future. The goal of the series is to explain the development and process of gathering oral and written history and how stories become part of museum collections.

Panelists include Megan Lockhart, assistant archivist at the Stratford-Perth Archives; Bryan Prince, historian at the Buxton National Historic Site and Museum; and Megan Patterson, manager of education and exhibits at the Stratford Perth Museum. Each will offer insight into heritage research and how historical questions about the community are explored and answered.

The event is free, though donations are appreciated. Museum members are admitted free.