Weekly We Make: Emancipation Day
JAUNE QUICK-TO-SEE SMITH, Paperdolls for a Post-Colombian World, 2021 Acrylic, amber shellac, aluminum, paper, and wood, Gochman Family Collection.
About the Weekly We Make Activity
Listen to the book Li’l Shadd: A Story of Ujima, and create your own picture book to tell a story about your life.
This workshop is led by one of our amazing Gallery Educators.
About Weekly We Make
It’s an art party! Weekly We Make at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, presented by Canada Life, is an opportunity for individuals and families to drop in and create artwork.
Learn about the artists and artworks in MacKenzie’s Permanent Collection and featured exhibitions with weekly in-person hands-on workshops that can be modified for all ages. Visit our studio to make art with Gallery Educators and guest artists, exploring new and beloved techniques and art materials.
There is no cost to attend these drop-in sessions. All materials are provided.
The Book that Inspired Us
Li’l Shadd: A Story of Ujima
Written by Miriam Korner and Alix Lwanga, illustrated by Miriam Korner, this historical fiction book is about the first known Black person to live in Saskatchewan, Dr. Alfred Schmitz Shadd, and his son, Garrison. It was written with support from the Saskatchewan African Canadian Heritage Museum (SACHM).
ABOUT EMANCIPATION DAY
The Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 ended slavery in the British Empire on 1 August 1834, which laid a pathway to freeing over 800,000 enslaved Africans and their descendants in parts of the Caribbean, Africa, South America, as well as Canada.
To this day, we celebrate August 1st as Emancipation Day. And this Sunday, August 3, we hope to learn more about Black Canadian history while reading Li’l Shadd: A Story of Ujima in this special Weekly We Make program.
Studio Activity
INSTRUCTIONS
Listen to the book Li’l Shadd: A Story of Ujima, and create your own picture book to tell a story about your life.
Step 1
Listen to or read Li’l Shadd: A Story of Ujima. Talk about ujima (shared work and responsibility) with your family or friends. Some questions you might think about include:
- What work did Dr. Shadd do that helped his community?
- What work do you do to help your community?
- Why is shared work and responsibility important?
- What would happen if no one helped each other in their communities?
Step 2
You are going to make a picture book to tell your own story about helping your community. If you like, you can write down what you did on a scrap paper. When planning a story, it can help to think about answering the six question words: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Step 3
Fold a piece of paper in half. Fold it in half again.
Step 4
Along one of the folds that you want to use as the book’s spine, punch two holes.
Step 5
Thread a piece of ribbon, string, or yarn through both holes, and tie it in the front.
Step 6
Cut the folds on all sides except for the spine. You should now have a book with four pages that you can turn.
Step 7
Write your story about helping your community in this book. Draw pictures to help tell your story. If you can’t write yet, then try to tell your story just through pictures.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
- Who makes up and contributes to your community?
- Whose work is sometimes forgotten or goes unseen in your community?
- How can you learn about Black Canadian history?
IMPORTANT WORDS
- Ujima: a Swahili word for shared work and responsibility (Li’l Shadd, pg. 24.)
- Historical fiction: a story that is based on facts about the past, but the writer has used their imagination to fill in parts of the story.
- Emancipation: the act of freeing someone from captivity, slavery, or oppression.
