Forgotten abolitionist inspired Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Josiah Henson is not a household name in the province of Ontario — not yet, anyway.
Local documentary filmmakers Jared and Michelle Brock, who make films as a not-for-profit under the name The Brock Stewardship, are aiming to change that with a new film. Josiah traces Henson’s life from his birth in 1789 in Maryland to his arrival in Canada in 1830.
Henson was born into slavery — his first memory was of his father being brutally beaten — and later started a settlement for former slaves in what would become Dresden, Ont. He also inspired the character of Uncle Tom, the noble protagonist of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 abolitionist novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. (The association of “Uncle Tom” with subservience and “race traitors” comes from bastardized versions of the original narrative.)
The Brocks were inspired to pursue the story after researching Stowe’s novel and discovering that the inspiration for Uncle Tom lived in Ontario — and that no one knew about him. Jared eventually became so invested in Henson’s story that he literally wrote the book on it. His biography of Henson, The Road to Dawn, hits shelves in May.
“I filled in all the gaps,” said Jared, “and that’s why [the film] seems so seamless. Whatever we didn’t have, I could speak to it.”
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The Brock Stewardship screened an early cut of their documentary this past Saturday at the Bookshelf Cinema. The screening served both to gather feedback — audience members were asked to fill out a detailed questionnaire to help with the final edit — and to network with politicians and teachers.
“This is to get educators, to get political people behind this film,” said producer Dave McSporran.
In 2016, the filmmakers received a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to screen the 39-minute film in over 50 local classrooms throughout this coming Black History Month, ahead of a wider release in May. The filmmakers are also preparing additional resources so that teachers will be able to focus a whole week’s worth of classes on Henson’s life.
The screening was followed by a Q&A session that kept Jared on his toes, as audience members pressed him on whether the end of the film failed to acknowledge Canada’s own history of racism.
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Some of Henson’s descendants, Steph Johnson and Terrance Vick, who appeared in the film, attended the Saturday screening. Johnson appreciated the vigour of the post-film discussion.
“The government is really trying hard to focus on reconciliation, especially with First Nations people. I think we really need to do that with black Canadians too,” said Johnson. “Canadian history wasn’t as peachy keen as we like to let on.”
These discussions are good practice for the filmmakers too. McSporran indicated that far more unpleasant conversations are sure to come as the film reaches a wider audience.
“We’re going to get stones thrown, so we just want to make sure that we’re ready for it,” said McSporran. “Racism is real, and lots of people don’t want a story like this.”
That’s exactly why telling that story is so important. “This is about racial reconciliation,” said Jared. “It’s about history. It’s about teaching our local kids stories of their local heroes. When they hear ‘Uncle Tom,’ I would love them to think ‘superhero.’”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOdr5jvooFg
Photo by Will Wellington/The Ontarion.