For the next several weeks, don’t call me Sunday or Wednesday nights. I’ll be watching television. If you are a genealogist who likes history as much as I do, the good times are about to begin. I call it delicious TV viewing.
On this side of the pond, season 5 of Downtown Abbey begins this evening, Sunday, January 4, on PBS. Read more here.
Then, on Wednesday, January 7, at 9:00 p.m. (9:30 p.m. in Newfoundland, of course), CBC presents the TV miniseries of one of my all-time favourite books, The Book of Negroes, by Lawrence Hill. This incredible story takes place in West Africa, the United States, Nova Scotia, and England.
The books chronicles the life of Aminata Diallo, a young West African girl, abducted from her village and sold into slavery in America. Eventually, she registers her name in the Book of Negroes, the British ledger of 3,000 Black Loyalists who declared their allegiance to the King and were allowed to leave America for Nova Scotia – and what they believed was the promised land. She lives her final years in England. Read more here.
In the United States, you will have to wait until February when the miniseries will be broadcast on BET. Read more here.
If you were impatient as I was and have already seen Season 5 of Downton, CBC isairing Pirate’s Passage tonight at 8 pm. Its an animated version of a wonderful book that should aso appeal to history buffs and genealogists!
I may have to set my PVR for Pirate’s Passage too. Thanks, Heather.