The Road Taken
The Road Taken is a 1996 documentary about the experiences of Black Canadian sleeping-car porters who worked on Canada's railways from the early 1900s through the 1960s.[1]
Directed by Selwyn Jacob and written and narrated by Frederick Ward, the film explores how racism prevented Blacks from being promoted, until porter Lee Williams took his fight to the union in 1955 and successfully claimed discrimination under Canada's Fair Employment Practices Act.[2]
The film features the music of jazz musician Joe Sealy, whose father was a porter. Coproduced by Jacobs with the National Film Board of Canada, the film received the Canada Award in 1998 from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.[2]
See also
- Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle, a 1982 documentary film about African American railway porters
References
- ^ Beard, William; Jerry White (2002). "Training the nation/s: The Road Taken". North of everything: English-Canadian cinema since 1980. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press. pp. 88–90. ISBN 0-88864-398-5.
The Road Taken NFB.
- ^ a b "The Road Taken". Collection. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
External links
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- 1996 films
- English-language Canadian films
- Documentary films about Black Canadians
- National Film Board of Canada documentaries
- Documentary films about racism in Canada
- Canada Award-winning shows
- Documentary films about rail transport
- Documentary films about the labor movement
- Anti-black racism in Canada
- Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
- 1990s Canadian films
- 1990s Canadian film stubs
- 1990s documentary film stubs
- Canadian documentary film stubs
- Historical documentary film stubs