'If we don't write our own history, who's going to write it?' N.S. woman highlights an important history lesson

AMHERST, N.S. -

Fuelled by gold paint, collected artifacts and a desire to tell the truth, Darlene Strong shares an important story.

“The whole exhibit is about our story and it’s about the several people that came in by ship and some of my relatives were aboard those ships as well," said Strong. "But it’s about the Black community and their early arrival and their contributions to our community even to this present day."

"Early Arrivals: From the Land of Gold" is a travelling exhibit, highlighting African history, culture and the connections to today.

“People will see that there’s fashion, food, there’s artwork, there’s thing today like the footwear with the gold sprinkles,” said Strong. “You’ll see the thumbprint around African people all through the exhibit, whether it’s artifacts or the little statues.”

One of Darlene Strong's pieces that can be seen on display at the " Early Arrivals: From the Land of Gold" exhibit.

Her inspiration sparked from one of her dad’s old textbooks.

“It was gifted to me and in the textbook from the 1900s it said that Black people were from Africa, had woolly hair and they picked cotton in America,” she said.

“If that’s what’s taught to all students in Nova Scotia, you can see where it would be problematic and people would see a tier system of, ‘Maybe I’m better than you are.’”

She says it is critical to share information with the next generation.

“If we want the history out there, sometimes we have to do our part, don’t we?” she said.

“We can’t expect the white community to share a Black experience, something that they’ve never experienced, right?”

Strong’s desire to influence change runs in the family. Her aunt is the late Theresa Halfkenny – a woman known as a town councillor, nurse and community leader.

She says that she has always been her aunt’s prodigy.

“She was just… an amazing lady and I said to my sister, ‘Aunt Theresa has done more in one lifetime than multitudes of people [and] with unbelievable energy, and she was 78 years old when she passed,'” she said.  “She just loved to see change for the better and she was interested in all the people.”

The exhibit even features one of Halfkenny’s dresses, a special tribute to a special woman who passed away in January.

“If she could be here, she would be here,” said Strong.

The hope is that people learn from the exhibit when they visit the Cumberland County Museum and Archives.

A wide glimpse of what people can expect at the Cumberland County Museum and Archives in Amherst, N.S.

“People have always wanted to be connected to their roots and to understand how we got to this place today,” said curator Darryl MacKenzie. “I see history as something that is not rooted in the past and unchangeable. We’re always looking back and we’re putting it into context for today and what we learn from it today might be different than what we learned from it 20 years ago or 40.”

MacKenzie says that there is a long relationship between the museum and Strong and that he has watched her change and evolve over the years.

He hopes that people who view the display will all get something different out of it.

“I think that more than anything, I hope that they are inspired to look at their own identity,” he said. “Take Darlene’s example and see how they can find out about their own family, their own background and celebrate those aspects of their heritage and bring it forward.”

The exhibit features paintings, which were all created back-to-back in order to keep up inspiration, artifacts and information. There is also a booklet for people to read that dives into the lesser shared history and influences.

“For 400 years, African Canadian people have been told that we can’t do things or are not intelligent and so forth and when you see that anytime Black people are given an opportunity… they excel,” Strong said.

“So that tells me that the brilliance already came from Africa with them.”