Brochure cover drawing sparks Sam Slick celebration controversy

By Christy Marsters

The Hants Journal/NovaNewsNow.com

Craig Allison pulled the 2008 Sam Slick Days festival program from his flyer package July 28 as he hoped to see the all activities planned for the big weekend in Windsor.

But, he never opened the booklet, and was left staring in outrage at an image on the cover.

It was a sketch taken from the archives of images by C.W. Jefferys, which was based on the Clockmaker stories of Sam Slick originally created by Windsor native Thomas Chandler Haliburton.

The sketch shows a man of obvious African background knelt down with his arms clutched around Sam Slick. Disheveled and his mouth hanging open, the man looks up at Slick the clockmaker, who is nattily dressed in coat and top hat and appears to be drawing away from him.

Allison, a resident of Windsor Plains, said the sketch represents more than a picture to the African-Nova Scotian community. “I feel humiliated by it… It makes all the old stereotypes come back.”

Allison held a quiet protest and petition signing Saturday, Aug. 2, for the community to stop celebrating the racist character that, he feels, is Sam Slick.

Allison had said earlier “...I would love to see the support of the whole community.”

Sam Slick Society president Bruce Shaw said the sketch was an oversight, which was unfortunate for everyone, but it was also taken out of context, the wrong way.

The picture actually shows the man crying out in pleasure to see Slick, Shaw said. “He’s throwing himself at Sam...”

However, people have every right to be upset by the image because people do interpret things differently, Shaw said. “I was as surprised and disappointed to see that this picture was published as anyone else… And I apologize to the people who took offense to it.”

Hopefully, everyone can realize this was a mistake and move forward, Shaw said.

About 8,000 copies of the brochure were distributed.

Mayor Anna Allen says she can’t comment on the mistake because it's the business of the Sam Slick Society and not the town. “But I wish the Sam Slick Society well,” she said.

“I hope the festival is a great success this year; as it has been in the past,” Allen added.

Vince Upshaw, an employment navigator with the West Hants African Resource Centre, said he has spoken with Shaw from the Sam Slick Society and realizes the publication of this image was a mistake. “However, I would like to see lessons learned from this.”

The process of publication should be slowed down and people should take the time to consider there were a lot of feelings hurt from this image, Upshaw said. “To the black community, this was a slap in the face… and an embarrassment to our population.

“It hurts self esteem,” Upshaw said. “When I saw the image, it made me want to cry.”

Also, some research should be done on Haliburton to find out exactly the type of person he was, Upshaw added. “I would like to know: is he an honorable man or is he not?”