— For a small group of American black families escaping racist Jim Crow laws a century ago, building a church in their new home in Saskatchewan was a priority. "The first time I walked in there it's almost like I got hit in the gut with a fist. They applied for homesteads in the Maidstone area and, in the spring of 1910, a dozen families packed up and left Oklahoma. Twenty years ago, Lane mobilized an effort to preserve the site and he now heads the Shiloh Baptist Church and Cemetery Restoration Society. The new designation from the province makes Shiloh the province's 53rd heritage property and prevents anyone from changing the crucial aspects of the building.

Source: Huffington Post September 17, 2018 00:00 UTC