Bec Sloane

Director Aaron Schillinger has been building a documentary detailing the history Boblo Island, one of America's earliest amusement parks. The film will feature live and archival footage, interviews with historians and locals, and my animated sequences delving into more of Boblo's history.

I was charged with illustrating a sequence telling the story of Sarah Elizabeth Ray, the 'Rosa Parks of Detroit'. She boarded the SS Columbia as a student in the 1940s, only to be escorted off the boat. When offered a refund she refused, and brought the Boblo Management Co. to court. Ray would come to be represented by Thurgood Marshall and they would fight and win a discrimination case against Boblo in the Supreme Court.

The segment was brought to life in stop-motion. I built designed and built the sets, including replicas of the SS Columbia ferry in three scales, along with over three dozen puppets to tell Ray's story.