When the Saskatchewan African Heritage Museum (SACHM) asked me to collaborate on a picture book project about early African Canadian pioneer Dr. Alfred Schmitz Shadd, my co-author Alix Lwanga had already gathered stories about the compassionate doctor who practised in the Melfort area. My job was to bring these stories together in a way that engages young readers.
“Know what you write about” is the advice given to all authors. Who was the Shadd family? What did Melfort in the 20th century look like? I needed to meet my characters and get a sense of place.
Miriam Korner, author of Li’l Shadd: A Story of Ujima
The Melfort and District Museum was my first stopping place. I am greatly indebted to historian Garry Forsyth and the museum staff, who brought Shadd to life for me. The more I learned about Shadd, the more I valued his true pioneer spirit. Whatever the community needed, he filled in the gaps: from being a teacher in Kinistino, to doctor, politician, farmer, journalist and pharmacist in Melfort.
In the diary of an early settler, I found a story that showed Shadd’s compassion for his Cree neighbours, to whom he felt an affinity due to shared experiences of racism and colonization.
In my mind, I wandered aimlessly beyond the early settlement of Melfort and out onto the Prairies looking for my story. How could I make the connection to children in schools today to Shadd’s little boy a hundred years ago? When Christine Llwanga introduced me to the philosophical principles behind Kwanzaa (a weeklong celebration in honour of the African heritage in the Americas), I found them so universally meaningful, that everything become suddenly very clear.
Shadd’s son was going to take the children of today on a journey to understand the principle of Ujima: To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together.
With Saskatchewan preparing to welcome Syrian refugees, this story couldn’t be timelier: we need to celebrate our similarities of what makes us human. We need to care about each other no matter what the cultural background. Shadd was a living example of that belief.
Li’l Shadd: A Story of Ujima is available through www.ynwp.ca, www.sachm.org or your local bookstore.
Miriam Korner is an award-winning writer, photographer and illustrator living in northern Saskatchewan.
