Freedom Found

When Lezlie Harper begins leading a tour of Black history sites in the Niagara region of Ontario, she says a prayer. It ends, “…allow me to speak the words these people need to hear.”

My husband Steve and I needed — and wanted — to hear about the Black history in our own backyard. History that was barely covered when we were in school in our home city of Toronto.

Starting in Fort Erie, Harper’s four-hour tours range from driving individuals in her car to leading bus groups of 30-40 people. Through her company, Niagara Bound Tours, she has been sharing stories of human determination for 18 years. These tales are close to her heart.

“I’m a fifth generation descendent of freedom seekers from Kentucky. I grew up in Fort Erie, listening to the stories my grandmother’s brother, Uncle Kit, told me,” she explained.

Our first stop had to do with civil rights. Harper led us to a walkway along a stretch of beach dotted with crumbling concrete pedestals.

“In 1885 a businessman from Buffalo envisioned a $2 million playground,” she said. “He built the first phase of Erie Beach Park but by 1930 the Depression ended construction.”

Stopping at a plaque we examined photos of a promenade flanked with electric light posts, an open air dance floor and a hotel.

“The Erie Beach Hotel was destroyed by fire, but it was here in 1905 when W.E.B. Du Bois came over from Buffalo to discuss civil rights with 28 men from 14 states,” Harper said.

Du Bois was the first Black man to be awarded a Ph.D. from Harvard. The group was dubbed the Niagara Movement and was the seed that grew into the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.

“It was called the Niagara Movement due to the proximity of the Niagara River,” Harper said. “Its rapids are some of the fastest in the world. They wanted to eradicate Jim Crow laws as fast as the river moved.”

Our next stop was where, in the 1800s, the Forsyth Ferry docked after taking liberty seekers across the river.

“This is where so many first felt freedom, including Josiah Henson, the man who inspired the main character in Harriet B. Stowe’s book Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” Harper said.

Henson, born enslaved, escaped to the Niagara region in 1830 and became a community leader near Dresden, Ontario.

Canada was a safe haven because the Act to Limit Slavery in Upper Canada was passed in 1793, disallowing the importation of enslaved people. Slavery was not abolished altogether until 1834.

Harper’s relatives came to Canada a little later.

“My ancestors were two brothers, Jack and Sylvester Bright, and their little sister,” she said. “They came up from Kentucky to Fort Erie in 1851.”

In the neighborhood of Bertie Hill, Harper slowed down by a trim bungalow.

“William John Chandler was a free Black man,” she said. “He joined the Civil War on the Union side. He was injured in Florida and had his arm amputated. When he came back to Fort Erie, he met Lavinia Taylor and they got married. They were my great grandparents and lived in this house.”

Down the road, Harper nodded at a street sign: Lavinia Street.

“They named it after my great grandmother,” she said with a smile.

After a stop at the Colored Cemetery, where Sylvester Bright is buried, we headed to Niagara Falls. Harper pointed across the river.

“Freedom seekers climbed down the stairs next to the American falls to boats waiting below,” she said. “They were told, ‘When you get off, you will be free.’”

Our tour wrapped up in the city of St. Catharines where Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman once resided.

We were standing in front of the Salem Chapel, British Methodist Episcopal Church.

“Harriet worshipped here,” Harper said. “She came to St. Catharines in 1851 and brought 11 people with her who were on the run due to the Fugitive Slave Act.”

The act allowed the capture and return of runaway enslaved people to their owners, even in northern free states. Tubman had escaped an owner in Maryland and moved to Philadelphia, but the Fugitive Slave Act propelled her further north. For eight years she helped scores of escapees find freedom in British North America (it became Canada in 1867).

When our tour ended, we thanked Harper for filling in so many gaps in our Black history knowledge. She had spoken the words we needed to hear.

Maureen Littlejohn is an award-winning travel journalist who has worked in the United States, Africa, and Vietnam. Her adventures have included long-term volunteer mandates in Ghana, Vietnam, and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). Currently based in Toronto, she is executive editor of Culture Magazin (no e), and is a contributor to CNN Global Travel, The Globe and Mail, nationalgeographic.com, and USA Today’s 10 Best. Her beat includes culture, history, food/beverage, soft adventure and wellness.

This story was originally published October 18, 2022 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Freedom Found."