''BLK: An Origin Story'' is a Canadian documentary television series, which aired in 2022 on

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

.Michelle Butterfield
"Groundbreaking new series explores Canada’s shocking, untold Black history"

Global News Global News is the news and 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 local news on its 21 owned-and ...

, 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 (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though t ...

history. The four episodes explored the initial migrations of

Black Loyalist Black Loyalists were people of African descent who sided with the Loyalist (American Revolution), Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. In particular, the term refers to men who escaped enslavement by Patriot (American Revolution), Pat ...

, Black Refugee and

Jamaican Maroon Jamaican Maroons descend from Africans who freed themselves from slavery on 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 ensl ...

communities to

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

in the 18th and 19th centuries; the history of the

Little Burgundy Little Burgundy (french: La Petite-Bourgogne) is a neighbourhood in the South West borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Geography Its approximate boundaries are Atwater Avenue to the west, Saint-Antoine to the north, Guy Street ...

neighbourhood in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

; the history of the Hogan's Alley neighbourhood in

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 ...

; and the story of John "Daddy" Hall, a free-born Black and

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans *Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people *Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been t ...

Canadian man from

Owen Sound Owen Sound ( 2021 Census population 21,612) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The county seat of Grey County, it is located at the mouths of the Pottawatomi and Sydenham Rivers on an inlet of Georgian Bay. The primary tourist attract ...

who was captured by the American military when he fought in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

, and forced into slavery for 13 years until escaping and returning to Canada. The series premiered on February 26, 2022.

Awards

Tom Third received a nomination for Best Original Score for a Non-Fiction Series or Limited Series at the Screen Composers Guild of Canada'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 announced ...

. The series won five

Canadian Screen Awards The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) 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) p ...

at the

11th Canadian Screen Awards 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables. Name "Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first attested i ...

in 2023, for Best Photography in a Documentary Program or Factual Series (Ricardo Diaz), Best Editing in a Documentary Program or Series (Avril Jacobson), Best Direction in a Documentary Series (Holness), Best Original Music in a Documentary Series (Third) and Best Writing in a Documentary (Sutherland).Jackson Weaver
"To Kill a Tiger, We're All Gonna Die and BLK emerge as top winners at CSAs' opening night"

CBC News CBC News is a 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.ca. ...

, April 11, 2023.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 18334580 2020s Canadian documentary television series 2020s Black Canadian television series 2022 Canadian television series debuts 2022 Canadian television series endings History (Canadian TV network) original programming Canadian Screen Award-winning television shows