Swallow-a-Bicycle Theatre and The Prairie Place-Ancestors Collective, in partnership with Calgary Public Library and Historic Calgary Week, present:
Black History in the Prairies: a mini film series
Saturday, August 2, 2025
11:30 am-4:30 pm (see schedule below)
Patricia A. Whelan Performance Hall, Central Library
800 3 St SE, Calgary, AB
Book your free tickets here!
Join us for this Historic Calgary Week mini film series highlighting Black Life and History in Alberta and Canada, curated by The Prairie Place-Ancestors Collective & Swallow-a-Bicycle Theatre. Featuring: Trax, For Caesar, Keystone Is…, Walking with Ghosts at John Ware’s Homestead, and a Film Reel highlighting Cheryl Foggo’s 35-year film career.
The event will include free snacks and non-alcoholic beverages, and a Q&A with Cheryl Foggo and Leander K. Lane (who appears in For Caesar). Copies of Leander’s book, The Road to Shiloh: The Untold Story of the First Black American Community on the Saskatchewan Prairies (2025), will be available for purchase.
EVENT SCHEDULE
Note: these times are approximate, and the schedule may shift.
- 11:30 AM – Opening remarks
- 11:45 AM – Trax
- 12:30 PM – For Caesar
- 1:00 PM – Break
- 1:45 PM – Keystone Is…
- 2:30 PM – Walking with Ghosts at John Ware’s Homestead
- 2:40 PM – Film Reel
- 3:00 PM – Closing Remarks
- 3:15 PM – Q&A with Cheryl Foggo
FILM DESCRIPTIONS
TRAX
A Tap Dancer returns from Harlem to her home province of Alberta, Canada and discovers unknown Tap Dance ancestors which sends her on a journey exploring the borderless Black History unimaginable right underneath her feet.
FOR CAESAR
For Caesar is a powerful documentary by historian and filmmaker Cheryl Foggo, exploring Leander Keith Lane’s journey to uncover his great-grandfather Julius Caesar Lane’s legacy. Through personal reflections and the restoration of the Shiloh Baptist Church and Cemetery, the film sheds light on Black migration to Canada and the resilience of early Black pioneers.
KEYSTONE IS…
A group of Black Alberta artists visit the community once known as Keystone, now Breton, founded by Black farmers in 1909. In search of connection to the land and their history, the collective meets with Allan Goddard of the Breton Museum as well as descendants of the original founders. The journey leads to creative explorations of their experience.
WALKING WITH GHOSTS ON JOHN WARE’S LAND
Seven years after finding a buried horseshoe on the Millarville homestead of famous Black cowboy John Ware and his wife Mildred, filmmaker and historian Cheryl Foggo revisits the site with archaeologist Lindsay Amundsen-Meyer to unearth more secrets being held by the land.
FILM REEL
Highlights of Cheryl Foggo’s 35-year film career, exploring Black life and history in Canada
