Wilma Morrison movie heads to Texas film fest

Niagara Falls’ renowned historian Wilma Morrison is the subject a new documentary screening at a film festival in Austin, Texas, this month.

Wilma, produced and directed by local filmmaker Ayo Adewumi, has been chosen for the Capital City Black Film Festival running Aug. 17 to 20. The feature-length movie, shot last year, details Morrison’s efforts to save the BME church in Niagara Falls from the wrecker’s ball in the ’90s.

The Peer Street church is where many former slaves congregated after fleeing the U.S. via Niagara’s Underground Railroad. Thanks to Morrison, it was declared a heritage site in 2000.

Adewumi, the head of customer service for Niagara Falls Museums, has been fascinated with Morrison’s story since he first met her in 2011.

“Through my relationship with her, I realized she’s got so much history which nobody knows about,” he says. “She’s like an oral history book, and once she’s gone, the history is gone with her.”

Morrison, who turned 88 in February, has been a tireless advocate of Niagara’s black history for decades. Among her numerous awards is the LieutenantGovernor’s Ontario Heritage Award, the Niagara Falls Arts & Culture Wall of Fame, and the Hamilton Black History Committee Award of Merit.

In 2011, she received the Order of Ontario, the highest official honour the province can bestow.

Born in London, she was prompted to become more involved in Canadian black history by the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968. In Niagara Falls, she started researching the Underground Railroad, which in turn helped establish the Norval Johnson Library inside the BME church. It is the region’s most complete collection of black history and literature.

In addition to her vast knowledge of local black history, Morrison’s quick wit and storytelling flair makes her a natural for the camera, says Adewumi.

“It was just like one of our usual talks.”

The film also features interviews with Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati, and official Niagara Falls Historian Sherman Zavitz.

It premiered at the Niagara Falls History Museum in November.