2003
HOMECOMING REPORTS

This past year the museum has been left with a huge void with the passing of our beloved Margo Freeman, Assistant Curator.  She was an invaluable asset to the museum.  I could always count on Margo to know the location of certain artefacts, documents, or research materials.  She was eager to learn and there were never tasks that she would not tackle.  And, the tour groups loved her.  She would welcome them with a smile and they would leave with a hug.  Margo's knowledge about the museum, her warmth, caring manner, her sense of humour, and her love of the community is truly missed.

Since the amalgamation of the Municipality of Chatham-Kent, we are now open year round. And we have seen an increase in visitors and requests for information during the off-season.

We greeted and shared our rich history at the "Canadian Connection" of the UGRR, with 86 buses and 4000 signed in visitors.

At our History/Genealogy conference last year there were 85 who at­tended and our knowledgeable and entertaining speakers enriched those pre­sent.  The conference opened with an inspirational song by Norma Blacke Bourdeau, an English professor from Frostburg, Maryland State University.  Her melodious voice echoed through the church and the mood was set for the entire day.  Thanks to our presenters for the day—Ambassador Ron Palmer, Loren Schweninger, Karolyn Smardz, Roy Finkenbine and Jacqueline Tobin.  We are truly grateful for your presence, your enthusiasm, and love of history.

At our "Family Feud" baseball tournament on Saturday, the Shadd, Robert, Handsor, Travis, Robbins, Prince, Gillier, & Boswell families competed for honours to have their name engraved on the trophy.  At the end of the day, the Travis and Robbins Families were victorious.  Congratulations and thanks to everyone who participated and for the spectacular "cheerleaders".

Over 700 attended the Sunday evening re-enactment to witness life in a fugitive slave settlement during the days of the Civil War.  Many thanks to the scriptwriters, the drivers, the workers at the gate, the actors, and conductors.

After the parade on Monday, we had the pleasure of hearing the words from some of our local authors come to life.  Dr. Juneau and Mansfield Robbins read from their book, "121 Tips of Raising a Child of Colour" and Adrienne Shadd read from her book, "We're Rooted Here and They Can't Pull Us Up".

In October we were invited by Uncle Tom's Cabin to partner with them, along with The Chatham Kent Black Historical Society to have a display for the Queen's Jubilee in Toronto. Even though, Her Majesty did not visit our exhibit, we were honoured to be there.

As you walk around the grounds of the museum, you will notice flowers that have been planted around the perimeter and in front of the sign.  The mu­seum participated in the "Communities in Bloom" program under the Cultural Landscape category.  These flowers were courtesy of the program and planted by the Ontario works volunteers.  We do appreciate their assistance in main­taining our garden.  Thanks!

We had a student and professor from Japan that was here for several days obtaining information on our site that will be utilized in programming for students in Japan.

Our Black History month program, "A Snapshot in The Family Album" was a success and enjoyed by all.  Our featured families were Morris, Rhue, Poindexter, Shreve, Roe, Watts, and Segee.  It was very educational and definitely entertaining!  Thanks again to all of the families who participated, and shared their story with us.  The proceeds from the program will assist us in the moving of our 1850 log cabin.

Also in February, we were invited by the city of  Toronto to have a display featured in their rotunda.  This display also traveled to some of the outlying community centres.

The staff and board made presentations to several schools and institu­tions during the year.  Presentations were made at nursing homes, quilters guilds, Canadian Women's Teachers Federation, the Association for Municipal Employment Services, Living History Conference in St. Thomas, the Need to Read Festival, Historical Societies, the Chatham-Kent film Festival, the Harriet Tubman Centre at York University, church groups, Organization of American Historians in Washington D.C., Grey County African Canadian Genealogical Historical Conference in Durham, and the Great Lakes Maritime Conference in Michigan. Staff also attended several workshops and conferences.

Articles pertaining to the museum also appeared in our local newspa­pers, the Legion Magazine, the Washington Times, The Ottawa Citizen, On Wheels (travel magazine from California), and The Toronto Sun.  And several interviews were aired on TVO, CBC, COGECO and CPAC.  We also partici­pated in several video-conferences with Millersville University in Pennsylvania.  The mu­seum was also featured in a promotional video produced by Parks Canada enti­tled, "Recognizing Our History".  This was distributed to boards of education and Historic Sites throughout Canada.  Last year "High Noon Productions" from Denver, Colorado were here filming a documentary about the arrival of the slaves to Canada, which involved some of our youth from the community.

The staff and volunteers have been busy compiling written text for the artifacts and displays in the museum for a self guided tour. The display that was co-ordinated by Joyce Middleton, "Breaking the Chains: Commemorating the Journey" has been well received - especially by students.  Thanks every­one!

JoAnn LatrerrsQuille, a Conservation Landscape Architect, from Parks Canada held a workshop at the museum to discuss the landscape and the memories that we had associated with the area.  She completed a Historic Landscape Conservation Guidelines, which will be presented to council to be incorporated into the official plan for the municipality.

We have been involved in several ongoing initiatives with the Ministry of Tourism.  Through the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership, an Underground Railroad guidebook was produced.  Also through this initiative, we have devel­oped market ready tourism packages for the individual traveler.  We are with the Journeys of Discovery Alliance, which markets heritage-learning getaways.  Our package is entitled; ""Let Freedom Ring" and our participating partners are Jordan House, The Comfort Inn, Deer Run Golf Course, Stargazers, Crabby Joe’s, and The Capitol Theatre.  A brochure was also produced, along with ads that were placed in magazines and a web site was developed.

 Through the Cultural Strategic Development Fund, there were funds available to assist the sites in producing a travelling display.  A consultant was hired to design a display and hopefully next year, the displays will be com­pleted.

Some of the museum's photos are in a film entitled, "Cinnamon Hill", produced by Heretic films from Toronto.  This film has been invited to the World Film Fest in Montreal in August CBC is also producing a documentary about the area and some of the archival photos and documents are from the museum.  There have also been authors, and researchers who are writing books on the Underground Railroad or producing documentaries.

Staff and board members travelled to Philadelphia to attend a reunion and conference of descendants of the Underground Railroad.  The Shadd fam­ily was honoured for their contributions and achievements in the Philadelphia area.  The museum also had a display.

'We have participated in an exhibit exchange with the Black Loyalist Heritage Society in Birchtown Nova Scotia.  This has been an excellent opportunity for the museum - sharing our history across the nation.  If you get a chance, please stop in and check it out.

I would like to welcome Spencer Alexander, assistant curator to the museum.  Spencer brings his knowledge, love of history, his ties to the community and his acting talents with him.  Welcome aboard Spencer, I would also like to welcome back our student, Toni Parker.

Let me introduce our hard working dedicated and enthusiastic board that is responsible for the programs, displays and special events that occur at the museum; Keenan Thomas - chair, Bryan Prince - vice-chair, Audrey Prince -Treasurer, Shannon Prince - secretary, and board members - Spencer Alexan­der - a/curator, Joyce Middleton, Joy King, Laurie Hawley, Rev. Birse, Mike Andersen and John Leverton.

Our theme for this year is Memories Thru The Years.  I encourage you to share them so that we can keep our legacy alive.

Shannon Prince, Curator

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website created July 2008; updated November 2009; by Lori Gardner