''The Road Taken'' is a 1996 documentary about the experiences of

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 ...

sleeping-car porters who worked on Canada's railways from the early 1900s through the 1960s. Directed by

Selwyn Jacob Selwyn Jacob is a Canadian documentary filmmaker whose work has often explored the experiences of Black Canadians as well as other stories from Canada's multicultural communities, as both as an independent director and since 1997 as a producer w ...

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 A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

. The film features the music of jazz musician

Joe Sealy Joseph Arthur Sealy (born 16 August 1939) is a Canadian jazz musician. He was awarded the Order of Canada in 2010. Awards * Juno Awards of 1982 - Nominee for Best Jazz Album - ''Clear Vision'' * Juno Awards of 1995 - Nominee for Best Contemporary ...

, whose father was a porter. Coproduced by Jacobs with the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

, the film received the

Canada Award The Diversity Award is presented by Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to honour excellence in English-language television programming that "reflects the racial and cultural diversity of Canada." It was introduced in 1988 as the Multicultural ...

in 1998 from the

Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television is a Canadian non-profit organization created in 1979 to recognize the achievements of the over 4,000 Canadian film industry and television industry professionals, most notably through the Canadian Scre ...

References

External links

Watch ''The Road Taken'' at NFB.ca
* 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 {{hist-documentary-film-stub

See also

References

External links