Film Screening and Discussion: For Caesar

With filmmaker Cheryl Foggo and historian Leander K. Lane

A screening of the short film For Caesar by Cheryl Foggo featuring Leander Lane, the great-grandson of Julius Caesar Lane of the Shiloh People, the historic African-Canadian community in Saskatchewan.

On Friday, January 31, at 7 PM, we invite you to a special screening of the film For Caesar at Central Library (Community Commons). This short film explores the history of the Shiloh People, the first Black farming community in Saskatchewan.

After the screening, join us for a discussion with filmmaker Cheryl Foggo; Leander Lane, the great-grandson of Julius Caesar Lane of the Shiloh People; local community organizer Tiro Mthembu; and Alyssa Fearon, Director/Curator at Dunlop.

About the film:

In and around 1910, approximately 1,500 African-Americans left their homes in Oklahoma and other places in the south, fleeing targeted violence and enforcement of the segregationist Jim Crow laws. The families migrated north to the Canadian Prairies in search of refuge and better opportunities. When the migrants arrived, they built homes, schools, and churches; they also faced hostility and violence from many settlers who reacted to the growing Black population on the Prairies with anger and prejudice. 

In Saskatchewan, the group of migrants became known as the Shiloh People and lived in a small rural community outside of Maidstone (57 km east of Lloydminster). Shortly after they arrived, the Shiloh People built the Shiloh Baptist Church and Cemetery, a place for the community to worship, gather, celebrate, and bury their ancestors.

The film, For Caesar, explores the beginnings of the Shiloh Baptist Church and Cemetery and its significance to the Shiloh People and their descendants.

Cheryl Foggo is an award-winning playwright, author and filmmaker, whose work over the last 30 years has focused on the lives of Western Canadians of African descent. Recent works include the release of her NFB feature documentary John Ware Reclaimed, as well as the 30th anniversary edition of her book Pourin’ Down Rain: A Black Woman Claims Her Place in the Canadian West. Recent journalism can be found on CBC Black on the Prairies and in Westword Magazine. Cheryl is the recipient of the 2021 Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Outstanding Artist Award and a 2022 inductee into the Alberta Order of Excellence.

In 2000, Leander K. Lane developed a passion for learning more about his great-grandfather Julius Caesar Lane, a founding member of the first Black farming community in Saskatchewan in 1910. All that remains of this community is a little log building called Shiloh Baptist Church and its cemetery which still exists north of Maidstone, Saskatchewan. The members of this community are remembered as the Shiloh People. His passion led to the formation of the Shiloh Baptist Church and Cemetery Restoration Society. Leander is excited to be releasing his book titled “The Road to Shiloh: The Untold Story of the First African-American Community on the Saskatchewan Prairies,” in May 2025.

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