In the Light of Dawn

Illuminating two hundred years of lost Black History through the lens of an iconic abolitionist settlement

In the Light of Dawn shines a spotlight on the Dawn Settlement, a historic abolitionist community in rural Ontario led by Reverend Josiah Henson (the real “Uncle Tom” of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s landmark anti-slavery novel), and reveals how the town’s scope and impact eclipses previously narrow interpretations as a “failed” utopian colony at a terminus of the Underground Railroad.

Along a 200-year continuum of resistance and contribution, Dawn’s history (and that of its residents) often intersects with pivotal international events and, beyond Henson, features important abolitionist figures like Fredrick Douglass and Civil Rights movement figures like Rosa Parks. Activism from 19th-century Pennsylvania’s Black Elite and other major American centres runs like a golden thread through successive generations in Dawn, resulting in landmark actions such as the challenge to segregation of private businesses and publicly funded schools.

Far from being a failed colony, the Dawn Settlement emerges here as a vibrant community whose residents drove wider societal change. In the Light of Dawn presents an expansive yet nuanced account of a small rural town that challenges traditional notions of Black History and the contributions of early Black pioneers, leaving behind an enduring legacy.