Consecrated Ground

by George Boyd
Directed by David R. Collins
2004

In 1965, Africville, the largest and oldest black community in North America was bulldozed into memory. Consecrated Ground by Nova Scotia playwright George Boyd retells the struggle of the residents of Africville to save their homes, their dignity, their way of life, and their history and culture.
Founded just outside of Halifax, one of North America’s oldest port cities, in the mid 1800s by descendants of Black Loyalists, Black Pioneers and others who fled slavery in the south, Africville in its prime had been a vibrant farming community. But by the mid 1960s the refusal of city officials to provide the community with even the basic modern convenience, such as sewage facilities and running water had turned Africville into a rat-infested slum.