Sylvia Hamilton facts for kids

Sylvia D. Hamilton CM ONS is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, poet, and artist. She lives in Grand Pre, Nova Scotia. Her work explores the lives and experiences of people of African descent. She especially focuses on Black Nova Scotians, particularly women.

Sylvia Hamilton makes documentary films, writes, teaches, and helps her community. She shares stories of how Black Canadians have struggled and contributed. She also shows how systemic racism still exists in Canada. Her goal is to help Black and Indigenous youth through education and empowerment.

Sylvia Hamilton's Early Life

Sylvia Hamilton grew up in Beechville. This community was founded by Black Refugees from the War of 1812. It is located west of Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was one of six children born to Gerald and Marie Hamilton. Her father was a labourer, and her mother was a teacher in schools that were separated by race.

As a child, Sylvia attended a segregated primary school in Beechville. This school was only for Black students. Later, she went to a non-segregated high school outside her community. In this new school, she felt like an outsider. For example, history textbooks did not include the stories of Black people. Sylvia found support in the African Baptist church. There, she learned public speaking skills. She later used these skills to share her own experiences and the stories of others. She was the first person from Beechville to graduate from high school. She earned degrees from Acadia University and Dalhousie University. She also has three honorary degrees from Saint Mary's, Dalhousie, and Acadia Universities.

Sylvia Hamilton's Career

Sylvia Hamilton is an independent filmmaker. She produces and directs films through her company, Maroon Films. She is also a professor at the University of King's College's School of Journalism.

Throughout her life, she has volunteered on many boards and committees. These include advisory boards for Dalhousie University's programs. These programs help First Nations and African Canadian students. She also worked for the secretary of state in race relations. Sylvia Hamilton helped create the New Initiatives in Film (NIF) Program. This program gave opportunities to women of colour and First Nations female filmmakers. It was based at the National Film Board of Canada’s Studio D.

She has held important positions, such as a mentor for the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. She was also the Nancy's Chair in Women's Studies at Mount St Vincent University. She chaired the Women in Media Foundation and the James Robinson Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies. Currently, she holds the Rogers Chair in Communications at the University of King's College School of Journalism.

Sylvia Hamilton has been a member of several important groups. These include the Second Racial Equity Advisory Committee to the Canada Council. She was also on the Content Advisory Committee for the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights. She is a member of the Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) and the Writer's Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS). She holds the title of Inglis Professor Emeritus at the University of King's College.

Her book of poems, Tender, was nominated for the 2023 Pat Lowther Award. In October 2023, she was given the Order of Nova Scotia. This award recognized her work in preserving the experiences of Black Nova Scotians.

The Little Black Schoolhouse (2007)

The Little Black Schoolhouse is a documentary film. Sylvia Hamilton wrote, directed, produced, and distributed it through her company, Maroon Films Inc. The film shows the little-known history of segregation in schools in Ontario and Nova Scotia.

The film explains that separate schools for Black students existed in these provinces. This was because education laws allowed for them. In Nova Scotia, the law changed in 1954 to end segregation. However, in Ontario, it remained until 1964. Most segregated schools in Nova Scotia closed, but the very last one closed in 1983. These laws also created separate Black and white school districts. In Ontario, the last segregated school closed in 1965.

The film highlights the many problems caused by institutional racism. This racism affected Black people then and still does today. For example, many Black students dropped out of school. This was because non-segregated high schools were far from their communities. Also, the racism Black students faced was very difficult. Yet, the film also shows how dedicated teachers and parents were. They worked hard to get equal education for their students. Sylvia Hamilton has written a lot about these experiences in "Stories from The Little Black School House."

How Sylvia Hamilton Works

Sylvia Hamilton's documentary work focuses on research and storytelling. She does her own research for her films. She uses the idea of 'sites of memory,' which means that meaning is found in people, places, and events. She shows how racism has affected generations by using old photos alongside new video footage.

Even though her films reveal the pain of past generations and current discrimination, they have a positive tone. She says, "where there is sadness in these stories, there is also great resilience." This is shown in her choice of music. For example, in The Little Black Schoolhouse, composer Joe Sealy’s upbeat jazz music creates a feeling of hope and understanding, not sadness.

A colleague, Pat Kipping, says that Sylvia Hamilton's work changes how people see Nova Scotia. She explains that after watching Sylvia's films, people realize Nova Scotia was built by many different peoples, especially Black Nova Scotians. This community was made invisible by systemic racism for 300 years. Sylvia's work helps people remember history and understand the ongoing "colour line." This term describes the harsh division between races caused by centuries of colonialism.

Sylvia Hamilton's Films

• Black Mother Black Daughter (1989)
• Speak It! From the Heart of Black Nova Scotia (1992)
• Portia White: Think on Me (2000)
• The Little Black School House (2007)
• Making Movie History: Sylvia Hamilton (2014)

Exhibitions

• October 17-December 1, 2013. Excavation: A Site of Memory, Home/Land (with Wilma Needham) Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, NS.

Selected Publications

Essays/articles:

• “Godmother” in Untying the Apron: Daughters remember Mothers of the 1950s. (Toronto: Guernica, 2013).
• “When and Where I enter: History, Film and Memory,” Acadiensis, Volume 41, Number 2, Summer/Autumn 2012.
• “Stories From The Little Black School House.” In Cultivating Canada: Reconciliation Through The Lens of Cultural Diversity. Edited by Ashok Mathur, Jonathan Dewar and Mike DeGagne. Ottawa: Aboriginal Healing Foundation Research Series, 2011.
• “Searching for Portia White,” in Rain/Drizzle/Fog: Film and Television in Atlantic Canada, Edited by Darrell Varga (NSCAD), University of Calgary Press, fall 2008.
• “Visualizing History and Memory in the African Nova Scotian Community,” in Multiple Lenses: Voices from the Diaspora Located in Canada, Edited by David Devine (Dalhousie University), 2007, Halifax.
• Entries on Portia White, Richard Preston and Africville, for The Oxford Companion to Canadian History, Oxford University Press, 2005.
• “A Daughter’s Journey,” Canadian Woman Studies /les cahiers de la femme, Volume 23, Number 2, Winter 2004.
• “Memory Writ Large: Film and Inquiry,” Sylvia Hamilton with Lorri Neilsen, in Provoked by Art: Theorizing Arts – Informed Inquiry, Backalong Books and The Centre for Arts-Informed Research - 2004.
• “What’s History Got To Do With It?“ Background Paper, commissioned by the Department of Canadian Heritage, Ottawa, March 2003.
• We’re Rooted Here and They Can’t Pull Us Up: Essays in African Canadian Women’s History. (University of Toronto Press, 1994).

Poetry appears in:

• West Coast Line
• The Dalhousie Review
• Fireweed
• To Find Us: Words and Images of Halifax
• The Great Black North: Contemporary African Canadian Poetry
• Temba Tupu:The Africana Woman’s Poetic Self-Portrait

Awards and Recognition

Sylvia Hamilton's films have been shown on channels like CBC and TVO. They are also used in schools and universities across Canada. She has received many awards for her work. These include a Gemini Award and the Japan Broadcasting Corporation’s Maeda Prize. She also won the Progress Women of Excellence Award for Arts and Culture. Other awards include the CBC Television Pioneer Award and Nova Scotia's Portia White Prize for Excellence. She has shown her films and given talks in Canada, the United States, Europe, Africa, and Jamaica.

• National Film Board Kathleen Shannon Documentary Award (Black Mother Black Daughter), Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival (1990)
• Rex Tasker Award for Best Atlantic Canadian Documentary (Speak It! From the Heart of Black Nova Scotia), Atlantic Film Festival (1993)
• Canada Award (Speak It! From the Heart of Black Nova Scotia), Gemini Award (1994)
• Association for Media and Technology in Education Festival Award of Excellence (1994)
• Maeda Prize, 21st Japan Prize, International Educational Program Contest, Japan Broadcasting Corporation (1994)
• CTV Fellowship Award, Banff Television Festival (1995)
• Honorary Doctor of Letters, Saint Mary’s University (1995)
• Race Unity Award, Baha'i Community of Canada (1996)
• Halifax Progress Women of Excellence Award, Arts and Culture Category (1996)
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, Dalhousie University (2001)
• Honorary Diploma, Nova Scotia Community College (2002)
• Nova Scotia Portia White Prize (2003)
• Silver Prize (Little Black Schoolhouse), Africa World Documentary Film Festival (2009)
• Best Film – People's Choice (Little Black Schoolhouse), African Diaspora Film Festival (2009)
• Honorary Doctor of Letters, Acadia University (2010)
• Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012)
• Governor General's History Award for Popular Media (2019)
• Documentary Organization of Canada's DOC Luminary Award (2019)
• Order of Canada (2024)