Even speaking to I Am Compelled’s project manager Rochelle Cunningham in a virtual meeting, her passion and enthusiasm for the charity’s latest production, Journey to Africville, is electric — and contagious.
I Am Compelled is an educational charity based here in Burlington, founded by Crystal Lavallee in 2014. The charity focuses on advancing understanding of Indigenous and Black history — Canadian history — through their theatrical productions. The productions are 40-45 minutes long and are designed to be fun, engaging shows for different age groups.
Pre-pandemic, these were performed in person at schools.
The pandemic of course forced a re-think of how to deliver their programs, and Journey to Africville is the result, available for high schools and middle schools virtually. The beauty of the virtual experience is that schools can put on an assembly, or, Cunningham notes, “different teachers can use it at different times of day.”
The in-person productions used different forms of media, including lighting, moving backdrops, and reverse projection, to create what Cunningham describes as a “living show” that connected students and teachers to the material in a dynamic way.
Journey to Africville, though virtual, is no less engaging or dynamic. This production tells the story of Africville, a Black settlement in Nova Scotia that was built by Black people, many of whom were formerly enslaved. Africville thrived for 150 years, despite local government not providing the amenities given to the white community, before being bulldozed in the 1960s to make way for a bridge.
Cunningham notes that though the residents fought to keep their community, knowing the government planned to tear it down and remove them from their homes, they were not expecting it to happen in the middle of the night. Former Africville resident Beatrice Wilkins described to I Am Compelled that residents were woken up in the middle of the night to the sound of bulldozers tearing down their church. Imagine the fear and despair Africville residents must have experienced. The aftermath is filled with families struggling to find their place in different communities, but also with resilience: former residents and descendants built Africville Museum, are working to get their story out, and finally received an apology from the city of Halifax in 2010.
They thought they could bury us but they forgot we were seeds.
Carme Robertson, educator of Africville Museum, in Journey to Africville
This story certainly deserves to be widely known to both celebrate Black resilience and to understand the impacts of anti-Black racism. February, Black History Month, is an excellent time to begin learning that lesson.
To that end, Journey to Africville is available for the month of February to subscribing schools. The digital experience includes co-hosts, special guests, and footage and communications with descendants of Africville families, some of whom lived in Africville as children, allowing students to learn about the history and impact of the settlement. There are also musical interludes, including a beautiful song written and performed by Cunningham herself, a rap by rap artist Veshone Cunningham, and a dance number celebrating Black culture and Black community in Canada.
As well as the virtual experience, teachers will be able to access downloadable materials with connections to the Ontario curriculum for students to further their learning.
By creating digital experiences, I Am Compelled can reach students in smaller communities who may not have access to these kinds of educational resources. I Am Compelled wants to change the narrative that just because a community doesn’t have many Black or Indigenous people, students from that community are not responsible for understanding Black and Indigenous history. They practice what they teach in terms of reaching new levels of understanding: the charity works closely with Indigenous communities to build relationships and ensure that the content is culturally sensitive and accurate.
I Am Compelled believes that by educating students about Canadian history and the contributions of Black and Indigenous peoples, students will be better equipped to answer tough questions, have a more inspired outlook on their role in shaping the future of Canada, and be more compelled to take action against racism and other social issues. They want to empower students to be conscious and compelled to take action, whether that be writing a letter to the Prime Minister or taking other steps to create a more equitable society.
As Cunningham says, they want “to make a nation of compelled kids, who are conscious…to be a better person, a nation-changer at every point of the year, not just at Black History Month.”
Empowering students to be active participants in writing their own history and to have a broader perspective on Canadian history requires all perspectives, everyone’s history. As the Honourable Jean Augustine said, “Black history is Canadian history.” The same is true of Indigenous history. I Am Compelled is working hard to bring that lesson to our young people.
To book Journey to Africville, go to I Am Compelled’s website, iamcompelled.ca, or click here to go to the registration page.
Correction/update: a sentence characterizing the middle-of-the-night bulldozing of Africville has been updated for accuracy. We apologize for any inconvenience.
