Black History Speaker Series

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Lezlie is a fifth plus generation Black Canadian whose family came to Canada in 1851 settling in Fort Erie. She also has ancestors that were here earlier that she will speak about.

This has been a constant learning journey for Lezlie as she enters her 19th year of offering these tours to people she has hosted from around the world as well as many motorcoaches from the U.S. She also enjoys working with others on telling the Black history story. At present she sits on the Underground Railroad Consortium of New York State which is dedicated to preserving these historic sites throughout the state. She also is working with other U.S states to establish a Harriet Tubman Trail that will end up in Ontario.

Lezlie wants people to ask questions during this presentation as she believes that the only way we are going to live in peace racially is that we are able to have open discussions where questions can be asked without concern.

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Saladin Allah is the third-great grandson of famed underground railroad Freedom Seeker Josiah Henson whom Harriet Beecher Stowe used as the primary narrative for her famous 19th Century novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. During his ten years as a freelance writer/radio host and twenty-two years as a youth advocate, Saladin has been globally published in print and online in a wide range of publications and he has created various youth programs, projects, and initiatives. Through his niche Atlantis School website, he has published 350+ articles and authored twenty-three books through Quanaah Publishing; five books are part of a Curatorial Activism archive initiative in the British Library.

In 2017 Saladin was nominated for the 21st Century Scholarship award at the 2nd Annual BP Awards in Atlanta, GA. In 2018 a permanent life-sized display and A/V narrative of Saladin's underground railroad heritage was included in the Freedom Gallery at the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center. In 2018 as a part of the Atlantis School For Gifted Youngsters, Saladin created seven online Youth Outreach Development courses, a Boys As Allies Rights of Passage Program, and Roku/Amazon Direct family-friendly animation series. He is Niagara Falls’ 2019 Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Achievement Award Recipient and a featured historian in the 2019 IMAX Film 'Into America’s Wild' narrated by Morgan Freeman and hosted by Ariel Tweto and John Herrington. In 2020 he was again a featured historian in the six-part award winning docuseries ‘Enslaved’ executive produced and starring Samuel L. Jackson and directed by three-time Emmy award-winning journalist Simcha Jacobovici.

Saladin is a featured educator in a 2022 United Nations Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery short doc, a featured historian in ‘Secrets on the Border’; The Nature of Things CBC documentary directed by Adrian Callendar, and a producer/featured historian of the Buffalo & Erie County Naval Park exhibit and documentary Two Wars: The Road to Integration.

Saladin is Director of Community Engagement at the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center, Public Art Coordinator for the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area, Commissioner for the Human Rights Commission in the City of Niagara Falls, New York, and a Public Speaker.

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Kevin Cottrell has been involved in the fields of Education, Historic Preservation and, Heritage Tourism for the past 30-yrs. below are some of his highlights…

1993; Put together a 15-city 18-day tour following the old Harriet Tubman trail along the Eastern Seaboard

1995; Began Motherland Connextions a Heritage Tour Company specializing in Heritage Tours.

1996; Worked with the National Park service in ultimately establishing the current National Network to Freedom Initiative

2000; Began work on what is currently the Michigan Ave. African American Heritage Coordinator in Buffalo New York.

2001; Served as an adjunct at the Univ. of Bflo. Interpreting the UGRR using historic sites.

2011; Introduced and produced what is currently the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Interpretative Center.