The Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum is excited to announce that the exhibition, Bound and
Determined: Chloe Cooley, Enslavement, and the Fight for Freedom, is the recipient of the 2024
Ontario Museum Association (OMA) Award of Excellence in Exhibitions.
In a virtual awards ceremony held on November 22, the OMA announced that it selected Bound
and Determined for this award because the NOTL Museum set out to mindfully tell this history
through the intentional involvement and participation of people of African descent in the
development of the exhibit and because the NOTL Museum was able to reckon with the past by
centering stories of truth, resistance, and freedom by presenting a more authentic, inclusive,
and truthful history.
“This was the first museum exhibition in Canada dedicated to the extraordinary legacy of Chloe
Cooley and the impact she not only had in Niagara but also in Upper Canada (Ontario today),”
said Sarah Kaufman, NOTL Museum CEO/Curator. “Her story has been buried and forgotten
for so long that we felt privileged to be able to shine a light on her story.”
The exhibitions co-curators Rochelle Bush (Trustee, Salem Chape BME Church and Freedom
Seeker descendent), Dr. Natasha Henry-Dixon (Assistant Professor, African Canadian History,
York University), Sarah Kaufman (NOTL Museum CEO & Curator), and Shawna Butts (Assistant
Curator & Education Programmer) are all incredibly honoured and excited that Bound and
Determined received this provincial recognition.
Co-Curator, Dr. Natasha Henry-Dixon says that “It was an honour to work on the curatorial team
to put together this exhibit that tells the story of Chloe Cooley, other Black people enslaved in
the Niagara area…This recognition demonstrates that often marginalized stories of the lives of
African Canadians can be central to historical narratives that have an educational impact locally
and more broadly.”
The Museum will continue to tell the story of Chloe and her legacy through their Google Arts
and Culture online exhibition, via their “Bound and Determined” Tiny Museum exhibition, and in
their anticipated newly redeveloped permanent exhibitions.
For more information: Phone the NOTL Museum at 905-468-391 | Visit our website:
https://www.notlmuseum.ca/