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| Photo: The Historica-Dominion Institute |
Diamond said they found young people were starved for primary sources and popular culture references to help them learn about Canadian history. They encouraged the filmmakers to work with them on a public education campaign to help drive youngsters to the movies to learn more about the country's history and the First World War.
"What we wanted to do with this guide in a similar vein is to use a popular book, like `The Book of Negroes,' as a foray into learning about the experience of black history in Canada," Diamond said in an interview Tuesday.
He said the guide focuses on the story of black Canadians and black history in Canada over 400 years, while drawing on Lawrence Hill's award-winning novel as an example of the black Canadian experience in the 19th century. The guide also includes a message from the author.
"The Book of Negroes" tells the story of an 11-year-old girl who is abducted from her village in West Africa and enslaved in North Carolina. She forges her way to freedom years later, serving the British in the Revolutionary War and registering her name in the "Book of Negroes," a record of some 3,000 black Loyalists who left the U.S. to resettle in Nova Scotia.
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