Renowned blues singer Diana Braithwaite is thankful for local support the Underground Railroad Music Festival has received and hopes the event will continue to grow.
“The Wellington County Historical Society was one hundred percent behind this year’s festival at Glen Allan park,” Braithwaite told the Advertiser.
She noted the society was very supportive of the 2008 plaque unveiling at Glen Allan, recognizing the Queen’s Bush settlement. She also thanked the township and local volunteers for their ongoing support.
“Mayor [John] Green was also in support of this year’s festival and is behind the movement to make things happen on a yearly basis,” said Braithwaite.
“And I have had wonderful support and encouragement from volunteers who have been a part of the plans right from the beginning and will continue to be involved as things progress.”
Braithwaite’s descendants escaped slavery in the United States to settle in former Peel Township and her mother was born in the Mapleton hamlet of Lebanon. Her grandmother, Rella Braithwaite, enjoyed an accomplished career as a journalist, author, and civil rights activist.
But it is not just her personal connection to the area that has led to her involvement in the festival.
“This is groundbreaking and so important right now,” she said.
“People are becoming more aware of the wonderful history and story of the Underground Railroad … I wanted to pay tribute to the stories and lives, in a form that all would be able to enjoy and appreciate.”
Braithwaite is the founder of the Descendants of The Black Pioneers of Wellington County, which is working in collaboration with Mapleton Township to present the 2010 festival, and she will also serve as the event’s artistic director.
“The Underground Railroad Music Festival is a festival in honour of those early black pioneers who risked their lives to get to Canada and who made new lives for themselves despite all odds,” she said.
The Queen’s Bush settlement, though almost forgotten today, contained about 2,000 black settlers at its peak, almost all escaped slaves and immigrants from the United States.
It was the largest concentration of black settlers in Ontario, encompassing an area about 12 miles by eight miles, in what would become Woolwich and the southern portion of former Peel Township.
Located on unsurveyed land beyond what was then the fringe of civilization, settlement began in 1820 and reached its peak about 20 years later.
Many of the settlers could not meet payments for their land after the area was surveyed in 1843, and some were victims of land agents. Those people drifted off, largely to urban centres.
The settlement enjoyed a second wind in the 1850s following passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in the United States. During its life, the settlement supported several churches and schools.
A handful of black settlers remained in Peel, several continuing to farm well into the 20th century. A few descendants of those settlers still live in Waterloo and Wellington, but most are widely dispersed across Ontario and beyond.
“At next year’s festival, and yearly festivals to come, there will always be a component where descendants of the early black pioneers of Wellington County will have a chance to connect and share stories,” said Braithwaite.
The 2010 Underground Railroad Music Festival is tentatively scheduled July 9 to 11.
It will feature local and international performers and proposed highlights include a play about black county settlers, a rib and blues celebration, an art show, a nighttime blues concert and a gospel day at the Conestogo Dam lower park.
Braithwaite said “We are all really excited about next year and have started putting plans in place.”
with files from Stephen Thorning
