Our story of the origins of Zion begins with a look at the early founders, congregation and community; and an introduction to part of the ZionFreetown@230 team; family genealogists Akindele Decker and Adrian Labor (African Curator LLC). To learn more about how they are making curated historical African experiences more accessible and permanent by working with communities, creatives, scholars, museums, schools, public and private entities, visit the African Curator – https://www.africancurator.com/. We talked to Anthony Morgan- Founder of Science Everywhere (https://www.facebook.com/whereisscience/) about his connections to Zion Wilberforce street, in Freetown. Presented by Natacha Leopold.

Photo: Portrait of the Reverend Anthony Elliott (as distinct from his memoirs published in the Harbinger) was published in a pamphlet by his son, John Bucknor Elliott, entitled Lady Huntingdon’s Connexion in Sierra Leone: A Narrative of its history and present state published in 1851. [Outro music- A Tribe Called Quest -The Space Program (c) 2016 Epic Records]

Presenter Natacha Leopold introduces us to a group of family members that got together to try and identify as many people as possible in an old photograph; a key element in filling in some of the gaps in the family tree – part of the conversation is in the Krio language. We also spoke with Historian Nigel Browne-Davies. To learn more about Nigel’s research, visit https://independent.academia.edu/DaviesNigel

In the closing decades of the eighteenth century, the convergence of various streams of transatlantic migration on Sierra Leone resulted in the intermixing of people with different life experiences of enslavement and freedom in Africa, the West Indies, Europe and America. Join presenter Natacha Leopold for this third installment in the story of Zion at 230 years.

In this episode, Adrian Labor discusses the Fellowship of the Free; Akindele Decker highlights the significance of language in the context of this discussion. Intro music: LEOA academic male voice choir, lyrics by Samuel Koffie-Williams. Photo: (Cover page) Origin of Wesleyan Methodism in Sierra Leone and History of its missions, by Rev Charles Marke. [Outro music: Gnarls Barkley – Crazy (c) 2006, Atlantic Records] This podcast is a fully volunteered effort toward the Zion Freetown 230 initiative. Visit https://ZionFreetown230.com. Follow Zion Church on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Zionwilberforcestreet/

In the Edmonds story from kingdom wars through the middle passage, we ask the question – How did a fifteenth century Spanish Royal court commissioned system of indentured service by persons – prisoners of war, become something much darker? To see a time-lapse representation of slave ships crossing the Atlantic during the periods of 1650 -1750 and perhaps better appreciate the sheer scale of these crimes, visit https://www.slavevoyages.org/voyage/database#timelapse

The life of Anne and David before 1783 was one of enslavement on the Edmonium Tobacco Plantations in Fauquier County Virginia. They were descendants of Africans acquired from slave ships arriving in the Maryland-Virginia Chesapeake Bay, forcibly taken from Guinea, as West Africa was called at the time. By the time the 1792 settlers arrived in Sierra Leone, they had already formed leadership structures and systems of organizing themselves. Their militant insistence on self governance and autonomy from the British authorities culminated in the drafting of their own constitution in September 1800. Not many years later, the marriage of Anne Edmonds, a daughter of Nova Scotia settlers – to John Leedham Morgan, the son of Jamaican Maroon settlers, would perhaps begin to bridge the divide between those two founding communities of Freetown.

From research documented by Adrian Q. Labor in ‘Last Christmas in Nova Scotia, America and their Hopes of a Better and Brighter New Year in Sierra Leone, Africa.’ Jan 15rd, 2022 Edition; and African Curator LLC – Akindele Decker and Adrian Labor (https://www.africancurator.com/). Presented by Natacha Leopold.

Photo: Excerpt from the muster roll of discharged officers, disbanded soldiers and Loyalists taken in Annapolis County 18-24 June 1784 almost certainly refers to the family of police officer Rose Fortune (ca 1774-1864). The original muster roll is in the Ward Chipman papers at the Library and Archives Canada. (microfilm 10163, pp. 28-53.) Date: 30 July 1784. To learn about Rose Fortune you can visit: https://aaregistry.org/story/rose-fortune-a-special-canadian/

Features music from Krio Diaspora United (KDU)- Southern Ontario [Outro- Say Her Name (Hell You Talmbout) Janelle Monáe et al – 2015, 2021 (c) Wondaland Records]

The history of Zion takes us from the early years of meetings at the Wilson compound, to the current location built on land willed to the church by Mary Ash, a 1792 settler who worked as a washer woman. We learn about the lasting legacies of John Ellis, Anthony Elliott, John Bucknor Elliott, ‘Old Rixby’ Elliott, and John Frederick under whose tenure major organisations of the church were developed including the Choir, Women’s Church Aid, the Dorcas Association, Ladies Industrial Society, the Young Men’s Union, Boys Brigade, the Trustee Board and the Kindergarten Society. Under the Wesleyan Methodists, Zion Wilberforce street was placed in a Circuit arrangement together with Maroon Church, College Chapel Rawdon Street and for a long time Spafield Church.

Sources: “The history of Zion Methodist Church, Wilberforce Street” written by the late Professor Emeritus Cecil Magbailay Fyle – extracts by Brian W. Samuels. 220th Anniversary booklet produced by the Zion 220 Committee, curated by Mr. Paju Hamilton. Readings from interviews with Zion church members, including conversations with the late Mama Mokeh Hamilton and Norman Thomas’ reflections on the bicentenary celebrations of the church for an oral presentation on Chapel Sunday, 2004.

Known for many years as ‘fambul’ (extended family) church, historical and anecdotal accounts including from two current members reveal how from the early years and through the decades, the church has seen much change; however, themes of family, dedicated service, sacrificial giving, industry, and community at Zion’s foundations remain as relevant and resonant today as they were almost two and a half centuries ago. Presented by Natacha Leopold.

Photo: Early Zion Choir, Freetown Sermon excerpt – Rev H. Samuels during the Dec 5, 2021 unveiling and dedication of the new organ // Music – Zion Methodist Church Wilberforce Street Choir (2021/22)

[Interlude- A scene from the Theatre Calgary/National Arts Centre co-production of ‘da Kink in my Hair, by Writer, Director and Producer Trey Anthony] [Everything Is Everything, Lauryn Hill – 1999 Ruffhouse and Columbia Records]

Halifax (Kjipuktuk) is located in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” which Mi’kmaq Wəlastəkwiyik (Maliseet), and Passamaquoddy Peoples first signed with the British Crown in 1726. The treaties did not deal with the surrender of lands and resources but in fact, recognized Mi’kmaq and Wəlastəkwiyik (Maliseet) title and established the rules for what was to be an ongoing relationship between nations. 

In this episode Adrian Labor highlights seminal works on Black Canadian stories from the eighteenth century onward, and discusses efforts defining the One Journey strategy. We feature multidisciplinary scholar, author, and artist, Dr. Afua Cooper’s talk on the renowned civil rights leader, community builder and black Atlantic revolutionary, Thomas Peters.

The #1792 project was born from an art installation for Halifax’s Nocturne Festival in October 2021, called Message in a Bottle: 15 Ships to Sierra Leone. The letter-writing project that emerged is meant to create personal connections centuries later, between present-day Nova Scotians and the seafarers who left.

https://abn.hrce.ca/abn/general-information/1792-project

A “Book of Letters” began in September of 2021, in preparation for the 230th anniversary of the first recruitment that took place in Preston on October 12, 1791. Journals from this time were written and links can be found to journals on the Black Loyalist site. Join the effort by asking your students of any background to write a letter to one of the seafarers from your perspective of our time, 2022, to what they might have been going through in their time. A few questions that might be answered would be: how have things changed since then, what they went through and how it helped, what you might be experiencing today that might relate, lessons learned…be creative and tell your truth.

Send the letters marked #1792Project to Auburn Drive H.S., 300 Auburn Drive, Dartmouth, NS B2W 6E9. Their goal is to reach 1,196 letters.

Thanks to students Zai, Samara Hudson-Ash, Adeola Wyse, Yema Ong’ongo, Ezra kenye Ong’ongo and Elle luca Leone for lending their voices to reading letters from students.

[Outro music: Detroit Youth Choir – Glory, featuring IndigoYaj, 2020 https://youtu.be/EDWsm7lcGXM (orig. John Legend, Common, 2014)]

[Interlude: Africville (Africville Suite) – Joe Sealy, 1996 Sea Jam, Triplet Records] [Interlude: Radio Democracy Freetown; Music: Kokonat Ed – Emmerson, 2020 Sugar Entertainment]

[Image: Advertisement for the settlement of black Nova Scotians in Sierra Leone. Date: 2 August 1791. Reference: Commissioner of Public Records Nova Scotia Archives RG 1 volume 419 number 1 (microfilm 15460)]

Joyful, thankful, humble, generous; service and sacrifice modeled by church members and leaders echo the history we’ve explored on this journey from 1792, grounded in the realities of life in the 21st century. The story of Zion is far from finished but we have come to the end of this series.

‘Awake and Sing the Song’ – In February, Rev. Archer-Campbell located an elderly lady at Murray Town where class meeting is still in operation and the Sankey Hymn book is used. She graciously rendered a verse, providing the tune for a near forgotten hymn which records tell us was sung by our settler ancestors when they arrived on dry land in Sierra Leone.

In memory of Winston Jones.

[Intro: Awake and Sing the Song of Moses and the Lamb – performed by The Young Trio from the Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church of Los Gatos, California, USA]

[Outro: Amazing Grace – performed by the Africa University Choir June 14, 2015 at Belin Memorial UMC in Murrells Inlet, SC. Africa University Choir is a UMC ministry, it has more than 1,200 students from 22 African countries and is located in Old Mutare, Zimbabwe.]

[Image: site of Harmony Hall in old George Street, remnant of a wall erected by Thomas Peters c. 1792]