When Tracy Lee began researching her family’s history, she didn’t know what she’d find.
But slowly, a powerful story of triumph over adversity began to unfold: a story about the journey from enslavement to freedom in Canada.
The Guelph-based writer and performer often tells her story in schools, but has now for the first time turned that history into a full concert experience.
Tracy Lee will be performing I Sing Because I’m Free at the Registry Theatre in Kitchener on Sunday.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
CRAIG NORRIS: What made you want to research your family’s history?
TRACY LEE: It started with my children really wanting to know about their ancestry because it’s so hard to find information about who they are and what they’ve done. My husband, who really should be a genealogist, started to help me and research everything. The more he dug, the more I found. And it was amazing. The journey that they took, not just for themselves, but for generations to come is incredible. When the Discovery Channel then reached out to me and they were interested in wanting to know more about it, I was like, OK, there’s something here people need to know. And it just kind of evolved.
CRAIG NORRIS: The concert is a mix of songs by Mahaila Jackson, Billie Holiday and Nina Simone to name a few, as well as some spoken word. Tell us a bit more about what the audience will experience.
TRACY LEE: I’m going to be doing over five genres of music, starting with the spirituals going into gospel music, then into the Blues, into jazz and then into civil rights music. Each one, they just build on the foundation of the last one, going from survival to self-expression and then from like the personal to a collective type of song writing. So when the audience leaves, I’m hoping that they leave encouraged, enlightened and empowered and empowered to do something better, even for their own community as well.
CRAIG NORRIS: What made you want to incorporate music into this project?
TRACY LEE: Well, in my own presentations of And Then What Happened?, there’s music already woven throughout my presentation. Music captures people, it transforms people. It’s a powerful tool to be able to use. So when they engage with it, because sometimes if you just sit and you’re talking about history, their mind seems to wander. But when you put the music in that they have listened to for years and then get them to understand the real meaning of some of the songs, they then truly want to know more about it.
CRAIG NORRIS: Are you going to be performing this with a live band?
TRACY LEE: Yes. I am so thrilled. The musicians are amazing. On top of it, I’m also blessed to have my nephew on the piano with me and my niece will be also singing with me. I’m still bringing in family into this presentation. If you don’t know who the Toronto Mass Choir is, that’s my sister’s choir. And Daniel, my nephew, he plays for them. And my niece Tara, she sings with them. So it’s bringing more family in.
CRAIG NORRIS: This is a massive undertaking!
TRACY LEE: It is! I really wanted it to come across that the people understand that it’s more than just music. It’s storytelling, it’s legacy and it’s the whole transformation of how people, freedom seekers, how what their life was like, what my ancestors life was like.
CRAIG NORRIS: As you delved into those stories, what was the most surprising thing you learned?
TRACY LEE: I think the main thing is that it’s not that long ago. I keep on getting reminded it’s not that long ago. I was born in the 60s. It’s not that long ago. So the information that is coming up about areas in Ontario, close to Kitchener, settlements that were built and then there’s no sight of them anywhere other than the cemeteries that are there. Those stories are not being told. They did so much when they came here. The Queens Bush settlement is one of them. I don’t think people even realize actually where the Queens Bush settlement is. And that’s why I enjoy letting people know more about the history and that you are actually living in the area that Black pioneers created and helped to develop.
CRAIG NORRIS: Is that what you hope people take away from this when they leave? That it’s a living history?
TRACY LEE: It is. A lot of people know that we came on the Underground Railroad and then it’s like we just disappeared. We didn’t do anything else because we’re not in the history books. But when you start to look and dig deeper and you see what is happening or what happened, I should say, for myself, I now know that I belong here. My ancestors really had a play in developing what we now know as Ontario all the way from North Buxton, St. Catharines, here in the tri-cities area. We really did have a huge hand in developing it. My first ancestor was here from 1806, even before Canada became a country. There’s just a lot of information that’s out there, but you really have to dig. And for my sons and my generations to come, this is their legacy. I always say your legacy is history for generations to come. I want to give them the knowledge that they go forward, that they will know also that they belong here, that they are part of Canada, a meaningful part of Canada. And then to also let other people know, not just my family to know, but to let anybody and everybody who will listen to me know that we belong here.
CRAIG NORRIS: How can people catch the show?
TRACY LEE: You can go to registrytheatre.com and find my show there and then click on it and pre-order your tickets. Or you can go to the door and purchase tickets there. Hopefully there’ll be seats left. I wouldn’t wait!
