Social Inc. is hosting a Friday Film Recommendation to honour the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition.
All Mohawk College students can access this film for free through YouTube.
This week:
"Marie-Josèphe Angélique: Montreal on Fire"
"Marie-Josèphe Angélique was an enslaved Black woman owned by Thérèse de Couagne de Francheville in Montreal. In 1734, she was charged with arson after a fire levelled Montreal’s merchants’ quarter. It was alleged that Angélique committed the act while attempting to flee her bondage. She was convicted, tortured, and hanged. While it remains unknown whether she set the fire, Angélique’s story has come to symbolize Black resistance and freedom.
We discuss Angélique’s story, and that of enslavement in Canada, with three women who have examined the trial: Dr. Afua Cooper, historian, poet, and professor at Dalhousie University; Denyse Beaugrand-Champagne, historian & archivist, and Ayana O’Shun, director of “Black Hands: Trial of the Arsonist Slave.”
Sensitive Content Warning: This film has content that may be sensitive and triggering. Viewer discretion advised.
Watch "Marie-Josèphe Angélique: Montreal on Fire" here.