''BLK: An Origin Story'' is a Canadian documentary television series, which aired in 2022 on
History
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
Global News
Global News is the news and Current affairs (news format), current affairs division of the Canadian Global Television Network. The network is owned by Corus Entertainment, which oversees all of the network's national news programming as well as ...
, February 26, 2022. Created, directed and produced by
Sudz Sutherland
David "Sudz" Sutherland is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. His credits include the films '' Doomstown'', ''Love, Sex and Eating the Bones'', ''Guns'', ''Speakers for the Dead'' and '' Home Again'', as well as episodes of ''Drop the Beat ...
and
Jennifer Holness
Jennifer Holness is a Jamaican-born Canadian film and television director, producer and screenwriter. She operates Hungry Eyes Media Inc., along with her business partner and husband Sudz Sutherland."At Home with Jennifer Holness & Sudz Sutherland" ...
for Hungry Eyes Film and Television, the series explores
Black Canadian
Black Canadians () are Canadians of full or partial Afro-Caribbean or sub-Saharan African descent.
Black Canadian settlement and immigration patterns can be categorized into two distinct groups. The majority of Black Canadians are descendants ...
history.
The four episodes explored the initial migrations of
Black Loyalist
Black Loyalists were people of African descent who sided with Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. In particular, the term referred to men enslaved by Patriots who served on the Loyalist side because of the Crown's guarantee of fr ...
Jamaican Maroon
Jamaican Maroons descend from Africans who freed themselves from slavery in the Colony of Jamaica and established communities of free black people in the island's mountainous interior, primarily in the eastern parishes. Africans who were ensla ...
communities to
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
in the 18th and 19th centuries; the history of the
Little Burgundy
Little Burgundy (, ) is a neighbourhood in the Le Sud-Ouest, South West Boroughs of Montreal, borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Geography
Its approximate boundaries are Atwater Avenue to the west, Saint Antoine Street, Saint-An ...
neighbourhood in
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
Vancouver
Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
; and the story of John "Daddy" Hall, a free-born Black and
Mohawk
Mohawk may refer to:
Related to Native Americans
*Mohawk people (Kanien’kehá:ka), an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York)
*Mohawk language (Kanien’kéha), the language spoken by the Mohawk people
*Mohawk hairstyle, from a ...
Canadian man from
Owen Sound
Owen Sound (2021 Canadian Census, 2021 Census population 21,612) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The county seat, seat of government of Grey County, it is located at the mouths of the Pottawatomi River, Pottawatomi and Sydenham River ...
who was captured by the American military when he fought in the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
, and forced into slavery for 13 years until escaping and returning to Canada.
The series premiered on February 26, 2022.
Awards
Tom Third
Tom Third is a Canadian film and television composer. He is most noted as a two-time Gemini Award and Canadian Screen Award recipient, winning Best Original Music Score for a Dramatic Program, Mini-Series or TV Movie at the 25th Gemini Awards in ...
received a nomination for Best Original Score for a Non-Fiction Series or Limited Series at the
Screen Composers Guild of Canada
The Screen Composers Guild of Canada (SCGC) (Guilde des Compositeurs Canadiens de Musique à l’Image) is a national association of professional music composers and producers for film, television and media in Canada. The SCGC has certification und ...
's inaugural
Canadian Screen Music Awards
The Canadian Screen Music Awards are a Canadian award, launched in 2022 by the Screen Composers Guild of Canada to honour achievements in musical composition for film, television and digital media.
Nominees for the inaugural awards were announce ...
.
The series won five
Canadian Screen Awards
The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...
CBC News
CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...