KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) – This weekend’s video is Black Mother, Black Daughter, by the amazing poet, artist, historian and filmmaker Sylvia Hamilton.
Made in 1989, and featuring her own mother and other strong women that have blessed the African Nova Scotian community, Hamilton wanted to offer her own daughter and other youths “something to hold on to, to rest against. So she needs to know her history, and to be strong in the knowledge that she, like her mother and her grandmother, is bound to something larger than herself.”
Click here to watch the video.
Hamilton’s poetry, documentaries and installations remind us how Nova Scotia is shaped by slavery, and that until white people come to terms with our racist roots and start to make reparations that history will continue to haunt us. The other theme that runs through all her work is the notion of resistance, how Black Nova Scotians have fought back and stood firm through all these years.
See also: The Passage, a poem by Sylvia Hamilton
Recently Hamilton was awarded the 2019 Governor General’s History Award for Popular Media, The Pierre Berton Award, for all her work. That was so well deserved!
Black mother, black daughter. Directed by Sylvia Hamilton and Claire Prieto, produced by Shelagh MacKenzie, music by Four the Moment.
See also Weekend Video: The Little Black Schoolhouse (trailer)
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Excellent Video! Sylvia Hamilton is indeed a heavyweight in the African Nova Scotian community and has contributed much in promoting understanding and awareness of our history, triumphs, and our continued struggle.