These rarely seen photographs of men, women and children living in Ontario in the mid-to-late 1800s, many of whom were descendants of Black refugees who escaped enslavement in the southern United States, tell the story of how Black Canadian communities used photography as a tool to visualize and lay claim to their complex histories. Though they’re far from the kind of photos we’re used to capturing today, their relevance could not be more crucial to Canada at this moment in history, as we contemplate who we are, where we’ve come from and where we’re going. Now imagine the surprise, joy and wonder that Rick Bell felt when he ventured into his mother’s attic and found an old steamer trunk that just so happened to hold a “treasure trove” of photographs on old tintypes, cabinet cards and cartes-des-visites (a popular, small and relatively cheap form of photograph printed on thick paper cards) from the 1800s. Think about your own closets, basements or attics – and how they tend to become storage space for possessions that are no longer useful or relevant to our daily lives. Courtesy Brock University Archives, Image © 2017 Art Gallery of Ontario.
Richard Bell Family Fonds, Brock University Archives.
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