Aquakultre releases the new single and video for “Gallows,” a reflective prison song rooted in the story of his great great grandfather Daniel P. Sampson, the last person to be executed in Halifax. The song brings attention to his wrongful conviction in 1935 and the systemic anti Black racism that shaped his case. “My great great grandfather, Daniel Perry Sampson, was wrongfully convicted of murder and executed in 1935. His story was told to me by my grandmother, Carolyn Sampson, who always recognized that there was something fishy, something not right about what happened to her grandfather. I got on that research 90 years later, and she was right; his case was a miscarriage of justice. The song is written from his perspective, in his final moments before being hanged at the Halifax courthouse,” Aquakultre says.
The “Gallows” music video, directed by Sobaz Benjamin, presents scenes tied to spirituality, tyranny, protest and redemption. Benjamin, known for the documentary Race Is a Four Letter Word, explains, “‘Gallows’ is not simply about death, punishment, or execution; it is a metaphor for the centuries long weight placed upon Black bodies, Black families, Black memory, and Black imagination. It is about the architecture of oppression, yes, but far more profoundly, it is about what we have done with that. It is about the miracle of transformation.”
On March 7, the 90th anniversary of Daniel Sampson’s execution, the Sampson family filed an application to have the case reviewed by the Minister of Justice. They have authorized their lawyer to set up a Fundrazr to support the legal costs of the appeal, including court fees, disbursements and travel expenses.