Breaking Loose: African-Canadian Dance in Southwestern Ontario 1900-1955 by Ruth Ann Shadd (self-published by author, 1995)
Theme: Dance in and for Communities
Date: 1965
Type: Book Cover
Name: Breaking Loose: African-Canadian Dance in Southwestern Ontario 1900-1955 by Ruth Ann Shadd
Originating Collection: Reproductions from the personal collection of Seika Boye
Description: This book is an example of local history documented through dance. The Windsor, North Buxton, Kent, Chatham and Dresden Townships were an area of significant Black settlement in the mid-nineteenth century in the years preceding emancipation in the United States. This area was a destination for the Underground Railroad. The close proximity to Detroit alongside the rural location and geographic segregation of Black families in this region resulted in a range of dancing styles from square dancing to popular African-American forms such as the jive and jitterbug during the first half of the twentieth century.
The documentary film, The Greatest Freedom Show on Earth (Orphan Boy Films/Keshet Productions/TVO 2015) and Emancipation Day by Natasha Henry (Dundurn Press, 2010) are further examples of sources that document important social and celebratory gatherings for Black communities in Canada including the annual celebration of the passing of the Abolition of the Slavery Act on August 1, 1834, which is known as Emancipation Day.