Washington, D.C., Sept. 8, 2016 – The Embassy of Canada is pleased to host North is Freedom, an evocative new photo exhibition celebrating the descendants of former American slaves who fled to Canada in the years before the American Civil War.

In portraits of 24 freedom-seeker descendants – the great-great-grandchildren of once-enslaved African Americans – Canadian photographer Yuri Dojc explores Canada’s end of the “Underground Railroad,” a clandestine network of "conductors" and “stations” that helped some 30,000 men, women, and children follow the “North Star” to freedom.

Black freedom-seekers settled across Canada, but most came to what is now Ontario, to places such as Windsor, Chatham, Buxton, the Niagara Peninsula, Owen Sound, and larger cities like Hamilton and Toronto. Future generations remained, and North is Freedom tells their stories - Canadians attuned to their histories and justly proud of their ancestors' courage.

North is Freedom opens September 22, 2016, at the Embassy of Canada concurrently with the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. The exhibition will be in Washington, D.C., until the New Year, when it returns to Canada.

The Embassy’s art gallery is located next to the Newseum at 501 Pennsylvania Avenue NW and is open to the public Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm, free of charge.

“African-American freedom-seekers and their descendants have contributed in a myriad of ways to the growth and development of Canada as a great nation. The Embassy is proud to pay homage to their personal and collective histories with North is Freedom.” 
David MacNaughton, Canada’s Ambassador to the United States.

“To be included in this project is to finally pay homage to each of our ancestors. They may have had to follow the “North Star”, but we can say to the world, we are here, and we remain here.” 
Susan Johnson Washington, great-great-granddaughter of former slave Elias Earl.

“This project shows we are all one family . . . I am as much black as I am white. I am of African slaves as I am of Irish immigrants. I am multiracial and we are all cousins.” 
Carl Stevenson, fifth-generation descendant of freedom-seeker John H. Meads.