The Dawn Settlement was one of the towns established at a Terminus of the Underground Railroad. Can you explain what is meant by that term and say a bit about the history of the town?
It鈥檚 important to note that the Dawn Settlement was not a town. That鈥檚 a historical misconception that arose from a long-standing misunderstanding about Dawn鈥檚 geography. The book begins by exploring Dawn鈥檚 true historical landscape and from that builds a case that its traditional narrative of being a terminus of the Underground Railroad gives us a limited understanding of its nature and importance.聽聽By expanding our understanding of Dawn鈥檚 geographic boundaries, we are also freed to consider a timeline that isn鈥檛 limited to the 19th聽century and slavery but reaches into the modern Civil Rights Movement and beyond.聽聽The underground railroad was a system of organized escape routes from the southern U.S. to Canada that existed before the end of American slavery. While it was not an actual railroad, it borrowed the language of the new technology (at that time) of the railroad, by calling people who travelled on it 鈥減assengers鈥� and 鈥減ackages鈥� and those who assisted stationmasters and conductors as a kind of code to help escape detection.聽聽In the Light of Dawn聽recognizes there is a tendency to romanticize the UGRR and to sometimes limit understanding of Black History to this single 19th聽century narrative and instead examines a 200-year continuum of resistance and contribution by people of African descent. What emerges are astonishing stories of people of African descent who shaped the physical and political landscape in North America.聽
Josiah Henson, who served as inspiration for the character of Uncle Tom in Harriet Beecher Stowe鈥檚 novel, is often described as one of the founders of the Dawn Settlement. What should readers know about the Underground Railroad and its history in Southwestern Ontario?
The movement of some 30,000 people into Canada during the Antebellum (pre-Civil War) era into Canada had a huge impact, especially in the counties of Southwestern Ontario immediately bordering the U.S. The Rev. Josiah Henson, who was himself born into slavery and escaped to the Dawn Settlement area at Dresden, Ontario has been widely celebrated as Dawn鈥檚 鈥渇ounder鈥�. In the Light of Dawn recognizes however that Henson was part of an ensemble cast of historically important people who came to the Dawn Settlement. Those individuals include some of the leading lights of the Black Convention and Abolitionist Movement like Steven Smith, William Whipper and William Goodridge who were part of the William Still Underground Railroad Network. The fact that 20th Century Civil Rights leaders like Rosa Parks of the Montgomery Bus Boycott also came to visit the area 鈥� twice 鈥� speaks to its continued significance in the era of Civil Rights.
The Dawn Settlement has sometimes been characterized as a 鈥渇ailed鈥� Utopian Community. Is there another way of understanding the integration of Dawn into the farming town of Dresden, with all the ups-and-downs that entailed? How would you characterize the history of this community, as someone who has lived on the same road as the fictionalized 鈥淯ncle Tom鈥檚 Cabin鈥� all your life?
Yes. Dawn, and other Black settlements in Ontario like the Wilberforce Settlement at Lucan have struggled under this label of 鈥渇ailed Black Utopian Colony鈥� for decades. But having grown up next door to the original 鈥淯ncle Tom鈥檚 Cabin Museum鈥� in the heart of what was once the Dawn Settlement area, I saw evidence all around me, particularly in the presence of my African-Canadian neighbors and friends that Dawn had successfully established families who over several generations have thrived here and contributed to our community鈥檚 growth and character. My research into primary records reinforced this. This isn鈥檛 to suggest that the town is somehow a free of racism. The book also looks at the National Unity Association struggle to desegregate privately owned restaurants, barber shops and pool halls in the 1940s and early 50s. In the book I examine the life of Rev. Jennie Johnson, whose 99 years bridged Henson鈥檚 time and that of the National Unity Association. She believed that in knowing the authentic history of our African-Canadian neighbors, which is a history of agency, of ability, and of leadership, that we could foster greater respect for the figures of our past and that would translate into greater respect for people in the present. And I think that her life (which shows us the nearness of 19th century history) and her insights have had a big influence on my work.
The Dawn settlement area continued to draw important figures throughout history. Why is it important not to freeze Black history in a 19th century context that focuses on freedom from slavery?
Yes. The list of people who are household names in American Black History who came to Dawn was quite astonishing. Some of those individuals include Levi Coffin, Lucretia Mott, John Brown Jr. and Frederick Douglass as well as lesser known but no less influential figures like Steven Smith and William Whipper. In the 1970s, Rosa Parks arrived at Dresden in the company of hundreds of Prince Hall Masons from across Michigan and Ontario, to lay wreaths on Rev. Henson鈥檚 grave and to take part in a Civil Rights event. If you understand the founding of the Dawn Settlement as a form of activism. . . part of the fight for freedom that included not only ending chattel slavery, but achieving equality, you have to view these events as part of a continuum of resistance. Dawn鈥檚 early history created a legacy on which later generations have built. I think that also inspires us to ask how places like the Dawn Settlement area have not only had this deep connection to important events of the past. . . but how Dawn鈥檚 legacy might shape present and future generations.
Dawn, and as it would later be known, Dresden, was also the community where Black leaders drew attention to the denial of services to Black folks at local barber shops and restaurants and succeeded in getting the first law banning segregation passed in Canada. Why did Dresden continue to be so important to the advancement of civil rights?
Dresden was the site of one of the first legal challenge of segregation of common schools in 1853. A hundred years later, the National Unity Association were instrumental in the struggle to pass the Fair Trades and Accommodations Practices Act. And I don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 a coincidence. Dresden鈥檚 leadership of the 1850s I think left a certain spirit and mindset among Dawn鈥檚 descendants. . . and sense of their own agency and importance that I think translated into later leadership on the issue of segregation of private businesses like restaurants, barber shops and pool halls. But there鈥檚 also other factors. Early on, I asked, why didn鈥檛 this happen in Toronto or some other large center closer to legislators where there were several organizations working on the issue of racial discrimination which was a reality across the nation? I had to conclude that there was a symbolic importance that captured people鈥檚 imagination. And certainly, that wasn鈥檛 lost on MacLean鈥檚 magazine who in 1959 reported that while the town was being promoted as the 鈥淗ome of Uncle Tom鈥� townsfolk were simultaneously denying services to descendants of Henson and other early settlers.
How have your relationships with other community historians and family genealogists interested in migration before emancipation through the Underground Railroad and afterwards (some from as far away as New Jersey and Pittsburgh) helped inform your research?
At the beginning of the Acknowledgements in the book I write, 鈥淚t takes a village to raise a child, and the same could be said of writers鈥� of history鈥�. And I think that basically answers your question. No one can do this work well alone. It does take a whole community of people. And I think that鈥檚 especially true when looking at these 鈥渓ost histories鈥� that have been so undervalued in the past, and as a consequence aren鈥檛 written about in the same way as the more dominant white histories. You can only mine so much from land records and census. To flesh out the stories and to understand diverse perspectives on what the data you gather means, you need to have a supportive community of informed people that you work with. And I鈥檝e been very fortunate in having the trust of families who have shared photos and oral history and family genealogical work, and fellow researchers who have generously shared years of meticulous research. Beyond local community genealogists and historians, the wider network of support has been essential too, because this is a story that links to not only several states in the U.S.A., but England, and the Caribbean. Working with historians from other parts of Canada and other countries was essential to understanding the astonishing 鈥渢rajectories鈥� of Dawn鈥檚 people to and from the community. It鈥檚 my hope that these kinds of transcontinental and transatlantic collaborations happen more frequently with future researchers, as I think they will serve to give us a better understanding of the connectedness and the impact of the abolitionist movement worldwide.
In the Light of Dawn: The History and Legacy of a Black Canadian Community is published by University of Regina Press.
Marie Carter聽is a lifelong resident of Dresden, Ontario, where she researches and writes about the history of her community, the former Dawn Settlement area. Her eclectic career has included graphic artist, reporter-photographer for community newspapers and church press, and rural organizer of outreach to migrant agricultural workers.
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