Finding the Way to Freedom

The title has caused some concern.

When producer-director Clement Virgo first heard of the novel The Book of Negroes, he wasn’t interested. At all.

“The book had a lot of acclaim, but I had a reaction to the title,” says Virgo, who was born in Jamaica but grew up in Canada. “I didn’t want to read it. But once I did, I fell in love with it.”

Written by Canadian author Lawrence Hill, the award-winning 2007 novel follows the life of Aminata Diallo, who is captured in West Africa and forced into slavery at age 11. Over the course of her life, this fictional character becomes embroiled in the American Revolutionary War and, in time, secures her freedom by aiding the British war effort.

It’s this event that informs the novel’s title: Aminata’s name is entered into the Book of Negroes, an actual written archive of some 3,000 slaves who escaped across British lines during the war and were then evacuated to Nova Scotia as freed men and women. Two versions of the archive exist, one British and one American. The latter version — published as The Black Loyalist Directory: African Americans in Exile After the American Revolution — is at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.

Few Americans know about this chapter in U.S. history, and that’s what intrigued Virgo. “I thought I knew a little about that, but this story really gets into what it must have been like to be black in this country during the American Revolution,” he says. “What would you have done? Fight with the patriots or be a British loyalist with the promise of freedom?”

With his producing partner, Damon D’Oliveira, he secured film rights to the project. And with financing from Canada’s eOne Television and the CBC, he brought it to BET in the U.S.

The timing was good. Buoyed by the success of such comedies as Real Husbands of Hollywood and dramas like Being Mary Jane, the network was looking to expand its slate.

It had never aired a miniseries, and certainly had no programming that matched the magnitude of The Book of Negroes, which will air in two-hour segments over three consecutive nights starting February 16.

Besides Virgo (who cowrote the miniseries with the novel’s author and then directed it), executive producers include D’Oliveira, Daniel Iron, Michael Levin, Bill Niven, Lance Samuels and Carrie Stein.

“We’re always looking for projects that show a unique slice of life,” says Charlie Jordan Brookins, senior vice-president of original programming. “This was very interesting subject matter that tells of an epic journey.”

It also opened a door for the network in terms of international coproductions, something BET had been looking at for some time.

Jordan Brookins admits that execs initially considered changing the title, worried it would be considered offensive. In fact, for that reason, the novel was released in the U.S. under the title Someone Knows My Name.

“Ultimately, we decided to go with the original title of the book because it’s the name of a real historical document,” she says. “We embraced that. If the title causes conversation, that leads to the truth of this event in history. People deserve to know about it.”

Starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., Ben Chaplin, Louis Gossett, Jr., Greg Bryk and Aunjanue Ellis, the miniseries was shot over four months in South Africa and Nova Scotia. The cast and crew braved 100-plus-degree heat on one continent and sub-zero chills on the other.

They shot the African scenes in Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal, an area that provided both jungles and beaches. “The elements always help with the authenticity, but it was pretty challenging,” Ellis says.

There were other challenges. “Emotionally, it was quite tough to be on the set of a slave ship day after day,” Virgo says, noting that most of the harrowing at-sea scenes starred 10-year-old Shailyn Pierre-Dixon, who appears as a young Aminata.

“There was a lot of brutality when these ships brought slaves in, and I think our actors wanted to hold up their part, to give viewers as much a sense of history as possible.”

Gossett, who stars as Daddy Moses, a former slave who leads freed slaves to their new home in Nova Scotia, brought a certain pedigree to the production, having starred in the landmark miniseries Roots nearly 40 years ago.

“We wanted someone of his stature,” Virgo says. “Undoubtedly there will be comparisons, but we haven’t had a renaissance of these kinds of stories for some time. Roots was one of the greatest stories ever told, but now with films like 12 Years a Slave, there is a timeliness — there is a younger generation that is curious about this history.”

If comparisons can be made between Roots and The Book of Negroes, Gossett says, it’s because, “They both are stories of black people trying to find the Promised Land. But the comparison really stops there. This is a triumphant story of one woman’s life, and her life is very compelling.”

Ellis, who stars as the adult Aminata, was drawn to the character because she refused to be defined by her circumstances. “She always knew that she was tied to something greater than the people who would keep her in chains. There was a force inside her that meant for her to tell the story of her people.”

Still, the slavery scenes were especially difficult. “There were scenes of great humiliation,” Ellis says, noting that her character suffers physical abuse and rape at the hands of a brutal slave owner, portrayed by Greg Bryk.

“I had long conversations with Clement and came around to the realization that Aminata was not a woman who was quick to act or a person who would necessarily fight back. It was not how I myself would react.”

Because Aminata is a woman of extraordinary character who, despite her circumstances, learns several languages and ultimately ends up working with the British navy to recruit black loyalists, Virgo says he spent months looking in Los Angeles, New York, Canada and London for just the right actress to portray her.

“I was very concerned that if we couldn’t find a star who could hold audiences for six hours, who would bring this project to life, that the project would not succeed,” he says.

It wasn’t until he viewed a tape Ellis had sent that he felt certain he had found her. “She’s an actress who has been working a long time; she’s starred opposite Denzel Washington. But she hadn’t had her big shot yet.”

Ellis, who also starred in the film The Help and has had recurring roles on CBS’s The Mentalist and NCIS: Los Angeles, says the role — which spans 40 years — was “absolutely different from anything I’ve done. I’ve never had this much asked of me before.”

During the shoot, she came to love her character. “I gave myself permission to really feel all the things she would be feeling,” Ellis says. “She defied the odds and her circumstances. She was ambitious. She married the man she loved, something that was often denied to people of her stature. So, even with the brutality, this is still a story about love.”

It’s also a story of one woman’s determined quest to return to Africa. “Her entire life up to that point had been trying to get back home,” Ellis says. “But once she finally makes it there, she realizes that her sense of place, her own value, is no longer tied there.”

Because the story is told from a woman’s perspective, Ellis believes it stands apart. “Women see things differently,” she says. “Often these stories are told from a perspective that only looks at the cruelty. But this story looks at the humanity that runs through all of us. This is a very, very different viewpoint.”

Virgo, who has directed such series as HBO’s The Wire and Showtime’s The L Word and Soul Food, says he ultimately wanted to bring this story to television because of its unique viewpoint. “All the history in this story is real, and Aminata guides us through that history. If anything, she’s a bit like Forrest Gump.”

BET is now looking to expand its work in mini-series; a production based on the life of Nelson Mandela is in development. “These are the kinds of stories that you can’t tell in just two hours,” Jordan Brookins says. “But they are rich, important stories.”

As for Book of Negroes, there will likely be some controversy due to its title —in some countries, protestors are said to have burned the novel.

Gossett maintains that people should make the effort to learn about this chapter in history. “It’s important information about how these people started their own society in Nova Scotia and then Sierra Leone. I feel that every one of us should know intimately about each others’ culture.”

Virgo says he has new respect for the title and its meaning. “To me, The Book of Negroes is a book of strong individuals who fought for their own freedom. I think a lot of young people are curious about this period of history. I’m very proud of this because it’s a story of empowerment.”

Photos: eOne Productions/BET