Bringing more attention to a real-life figure at a Dresden museum through the renaming of the facility was noticed by a national organization.
The Ontario Heritage Trust, which operates the Josiah Henson Museum of African-Canadian History, recently received the National Trust for Canada governors’ award. Until late July this year, the site had been known as Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site.
“We’re really proud of this award,” museum site manager Steven Cook said. “It’s really a reflection of all the hard work and the thought that we put into the renaming of the site. It’s bringing about a lot of change already, which I’m really, really happy to see.”
Henson escaped from slavery in Kentucky and settled near Dresden in 1830. There, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement and a conductor on the Underground Railroad, helping 118 people escape to Canada for freedom.
He also helped establish the British American Institute, which provided an education and taught skilled trades to the Black population and refugees from the United States.
Henson’s story was the basis for the title character in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Decades later, the name Uncle Tom became warped through minstrel shows and has been used in a derogatory way towards Black men who are subservient to men of European descent.
“That’s been our biggest challenge, is separating fact from fiction,” Cook said. “Josiah Henson and Uncle Tom – they are not one and the same person.”
The new name came out of Ontario Heritage Trust’s review of its properties and programs through an anti-racist and inclusive lens. The change was meant to remove negative connotations and bring more attention to Henson’s story.
Cook said only one guest at the museum since July was not receptive of this decision once completing the tour.
He said even the skeptical visitors usually go through a process while seeing the site where they understand why the museum has Henson’s name.
Cook said the renaming was their chance to educate people on both the history of slavery – including in Canada – and all of the accomplishments of Henson as an author, an educator and an abolitionist.
“That’s a real person who accomplished something here in Dresden that had an impact nationally and internationally and that’s the man we should be celebrating,” he said.
There is still some work to complete regarding the name, Cook said. Some signs with the former name remain on roads, and the museum is working with the Municipality of Chatham-Kent and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation to address this.
The renaming also led to a chance to speak at a conference in London, UK Cook said he’ll be attending with representatives from Huron University College in London, Ont.
“It will be my first opportunity to actually walk some of the same spaces that Josiah Henson did when he was over in England, so I’m very excited about the opportunity to go over there next February,” Cook said.