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Uncovering the lost history of Black resistance in Niagara Falls rewrites 'everyone’s history'

Nicole Mortillaro · CBC Docs · Posted: Feb 02, 2023 2:00 PM CST | Last Updated: February 6

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Saladin Allah sits in the kitchen space of what was once the Cataract House hotel, where the free Black wait staff operated in secret to ferry enslaved people to safety. (Attraction)

Niagara Falls has long been a tourist destination, with its rushing rapids and breathtaking waterfalls. For centuries people have been drawn to the natural spectacle of water cascading to the river below. But of the millions of tourists that pass through the area each year, it's likely few are aware of its importance to Black history.

It's a cloudy day in Niagara Falls, N.Y. Bare trees signal the arrival of fall, and people walk along the winding paths as chillier temperatures roll in. Saladin Allah, director of community engagement at the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center, sits on a park bench beside Anthony Morgan, host of Secret Agents of the Underground Railroad, a documentary from The Nature of Things.

"This is a beautiful location," Morgan says in the documentary.

"Yeah, well, to the average person, it's just a park, right?" Allah says. "To us, it's hallowed ground."

The pair are sitting where the historic Cataract House, a hotel built in 1825, once stood in all its opulent elegance, hosting the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and even the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and King George V.

More:
https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/the-nature-of-things/archaeology-is-rooted-in-racism-and-colonialism-say-scientists-here-s-how-we-rewrite-everyone-s-history-1.6734989