Musical Soul in the City explores Edmontons Black history – Edmonton [Video]

It’s a look at how Black Edmontonians first came to the city and how the community has changed over time.

That history is what Darren W. Jordan, director of the musical, Soul in the City, wants to share with the public.

“It basically chronicles the story of how Black people actually ended up in Edmonton,” Jordan said.

The musical combines song, poetry and short act plays to examine the history of the arrival of Black Edmontonians in the early 1900s.

“A lot of Black people ended up in Alberta … because there was an invitation from Alberta for people to come up and homestead,” Jordan said.

“A lot of people were leaving the troubles and stresses they were having in middle America, Oklahoma, places like that, trying to escape Jim Crow laws.”

It also includes newer influences from those still arriving in Edmonton.

“It’s people from the Caribbean, from Europe, the continent of Africa and all over the world that …