About the film
Loyalties is a 1999 Canadian documentary directed by Lesley Ann Patten about two women who discover they are related through slavery’s legacy in the United States. Ruth Whitehead, whose family came from South Carolina, meets Carmelita Robertson, a Black Canadian graduate student whose relatives arrived in Nova Scotia as Black Loyalists in the late eighteenth century. Recognizing names among Robertson’s ancestors, Whitehead joins her in traveling to Charleston, South Carolina, to investigate their shared past.
Their relationship is also tested: Whitehead descends from wealthy slave owners, while Robertson descends from those owners’ slaves. The film therefore follows both a genealogical discovery and the personal tensions that emerge from their opposing family histories. It is categorized as a documentary film, with subjects including slavery in the United States and women.
The film was released in Canada in 1999.
Who it is for
It suits viewers interested in slavery’s historical legacy, genealogy, women’s stories and difficult family relationships. Students examining how personal histories intersect with American slavery may find it relevant.
Worth knowing
- Explores a shared family history
- Centers two women’s perspectives
- Travels from Nova Scotia to Charleston
- Examines slavery’s personal legacy
Before you press play
- Focuses on a difficult relationship
- Released in 1999
- Specific to two family histories
The short of it
Loyalties connects genealogical discovery with the unequal histories of two families. Its focus on Whitehead and Robertson gives the documentary a personal route into slavery’s legacy and the tensions that history can create.