A new docuseries dedicated to unearthing the little-told stories of Black Canadian experiences is as much about the present as it is about relearning the past, says its showrunner.
鈥淏lack Life: Untold Stories鈥� traces 400 years of contributions that helped shape the nation and underpin ongoing efforts toward racial justice, says executive producer Leslie Norville.
Through archival footage, recreations and testimonies from Black Canadians, it also dispels common myths, such as sa国际传媒 being a utopia for Black people during slavery.
鈥淭here鈥檚 still a lot of work that needs to be done here in sa国际传媒 and the first step is grappling with our history,鈥� says Norville, whose doc credits include 2021鈥檚 pandemic hospital portrait 鈥淭he First Wave.鈥�
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know a lot of these stories myself. The process of doing this research unearthed a lot of information as a Black Canadian I should have known about and didn鈥檛, so that was really shocking for me.鈥�
The CBC series features eight hour-long episodes and debuts Wednesday with director Alicia K. Harris dissecting the history of slavery in sa国际传媒 with haunting recreations and interviews.
Each instalment is dedicated to one overarching topic including Black empowerment, hip-hop, immigration, art and literature, sports, policing and settlements.
Starting Wednesday, viewers can also stream the entire series on CBC Gem, which posted the first four episodes last week.
The series celebrates national pioneers like 鈥淟et Your Backbone Slide鈥� rapper Maestro Fresh Wes, 鈥淭he Book of Negroes鈥� and 鈥淏rother鈥� director Clement Virgo, and athletes including former NHL superstar P.K. Subban, who also serves as executive producer on the series.
Further along, director Duane Crichton explores calls for widespread police reform and how media has contributed to the normalization of violence against Black people.聽
And in the final chapter on Black communities, director Frances-Anne Solomon uses interviews with descendants of displaced residents to examine the policies that destroyed settlements and the inspiring residents resisting systemic displacement.
鈥淭here are subjects that are going to be difficult for some people,鈥� Norville says. 鈥淲e have to confront our history and sometimes that history isn鈥檛 pretty, but it鈥檚 important we give people the opportunity to retell and recount their experiences.鈥�
Narrowing down which stories to tell and deciding who would spearhead them was one of the biggest challenges. Norville envisioned the project as an anthology resembling ESPN鈥檚 鈥�30 For 30鈥� docuseries, with eight directors tackling one episode and subject each.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not a monolith, so this idea that one director or one showrunner would be able to tell these histories didn鈥檛 seem to fit,鈥� Norville says.
She notes each director brought their unique voice and vision to not only the material, but also to the visuals and sounds.
In the second episode 鈥淩evolution Remix,鈥� airing Nov. 1, director Mich猫le Stephenson homes in on two defining Black empowerment events in Montreal. The first is the 1968 Congress of Black Writers, a four-day Black liberation movement at McGill University, attended by Black liberation activists including Stokely Carmichael, C.L.R. James, Miriam Makeba and Walter Rodney.
The second is 1969鈥檚 Sir George Williams Affair, in which a peaceful protest by young Black university students devolved into a riot when police forcefully intervened, arresting dozens and galvanizing the anti-racism movement.
The episode is rife with personal anecdotes told through archived material and new interviews, including with movement leader Brenda Dash, who was convicted of mischief. It鈥檚 set against a 1960s-influenced jazz score, and Stephenson keeps the entire hour in black-and-white 鈥� regardless of who is speaking and when the footage was collected.
鈥淲e were almost collapsing the distance between the archival and the current-day material,鈥� explains Stephenson, whose 2013 doc 鈥淎merican Promise鈥� traced the divergent paths of two boys from kindergarten through high school graduation.
鈥淲hen you do that, hopefully the audience understands a lot of the struggle that was happening back then is still so relevant today.鈥�
Following the CBC run, Norville says she wants to get 鈥淏lack Life: Untold Stories鈥� in front of educators, students and the communities it explores. The team is putting together watch guides and curriculums that can be used in classrooms.
It鈥檚 all in an effort to reframe how Canadians view the country鈥檚 history, while amplifying the voices of those whose stories have never been mainstream, Norville says.
鈥淔or some reason there has been an effort to bury this history. I hope with the series that these untold stories are unearthed for audiences and there is a will and desire to continue seeking [them] out,鈥� she says.
鈥淣arrative is everything. If we don鈥檛 tell our own stories and lay a stake on the ground, then we don鈥檛 do justice or service to our future generations,鈥� adds Stephenson.
鈥淸They need] to be able to go back and see these archives that we are building so they know they have shoulders to lean on in the work they have to do moving forward.鈥�
鈥� Amber Dowling is a freelance TV reporter based in Milton, Ont.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2023
Amber Dowling, The Canadian Press
