November 17, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Sierra Leone: Anthropology: African American Issues: Slavery: Museums: Amsterdam News: Since 1997, Professor Opala has been working with author Edward Ball on tracing Priscilla’s African roots
Peace Corps Online:
Directory:
Sierra Leone:
Special Report: Historian and Anthropologist Sierra Leone RPCV Joseph Opala:
February 9, 2005: Index: PCOL Exclusive: RPCV Joseph Opala (Sierra Leone) :
November 17, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Sierra Leone: Anthropology: African American Issues: Slavery: Museums: Amsterdam News: Since 1997, Professor Opala has been working with author Edward Ball on tracing Priscilla’s African roots
Since 1997, Professor Opala has been working with author Edward Ball on tracing Priscilla’s African roots
“I don’t think this will happen again,” said curator Joseph Opala. “I doubt that any reunion quite this specific will ever take place again for an African American whose ancestors were taken away during the slave trade.” Anthropologist Jospeh Opala served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone.
Since 1997, Professor Opala has been working with author Edward Ball on tracing Priscilla’s African roots
Locating a legacy
by SUSAN E. MCGREGOR
Special to the AmNews
Originally posted 11/17/2005
Among the many legacies left by two hundred years of slavery in this country is the legacy that it has deprived so many African Americans: an extended family history. But that history has been rediscovered for one South Carolina family, whose lineage has been traced to a little girl from Sierra Leone who was transported to the United States on a slave ship in 1756. The story of Priscilla and the African homecoming of one of her modern-day descendants, Thomalind Martin Polite, is the subject of a singular exhibit that opened earlier this month at the New-York Historical Society, "Finding Priscilla’s Children: The Roots and Branches of Slavery."
Although the exhibit itself occupies only one small room on the second floor of the museum, it is the first presentation of an unbroken document trail linking modern African Americans to a specific ancestor transported to this country as a slave. That same trail led Mrs. Polite to visit Sierra Leone, the area from which her great-great-great-great-great-grandmother Priscilla was taken.
"I don’t think this will happen again," said curator Joseph Opala. "I doubt that any reunion quite this specific will ever take place again for an African American whose ancestors were taken away during the slave trade."
Since 1997, Professor Opala has been working with author Edward Ball on tracing Priscilla’s African roots.
It was Ball’s extensive research on the genealogy of slaves held by his ancestors that led to the 1998 National Book Award Winning novel "Slaves in the Family," and traced Priscilla’s lineage to her modern-day descendants. By mining public records and family documents, Ball not only located Mrs. Polite, but also deduced the name of the ship on which Priscilla arrived, called the Hare.
Opala, on the other hand, has spent much of his career studying the African side of the slave trade, particularly in Sierra Leone. He spent six years at the university there, and in 1989, organized the first homecoming to the country of Black community leaders from Georgia and South Carolina, where large numbers of slaves from Sierra Leone arrived in this country.
"Everyone in West Africa knows, at least theoretically, that they have descendants in America," said Opala. "But they were always asking me if I could trace them to an actual descendant."
The breakthrough came just last year when a researcher from Rhode Island called Opala and asked for a list of reference materials. While looking through a list he’d had filed for years, Opala happened across a 1931 reference to a ship called the Hare from 1756, whose records were part of the New-York Historical Society’s archives.
"I thought,‘ Ok, stay calm,’" said Opala. "It’s probably not the same one." But when he was going through the ship’s materials, he came across the list of slaves sold from its cargo. In the middle of the page was the name Elias Ball, listing his purchase of three boys and two girls. "I knew that one of those girls was Priscilla," Opala says.
The actual list showing Elias Ball’s purchase, as well as a reproduction of Priscilla’s name, which he entered in his personal records, are both on display. Also included are photographs of many of Priscilla’s descendants, and a documentary film that incorporates Opala’s computer-reconstruction of the Bunce Island prison where Priscilla may have been held off Sierra Leone, and footage of Mrs. Polite’s homecoming there. Mrs. Polite’s reception in Sierra Leone was an important and emotional culmination for the project.
"Sierra Leoneans were deeply moved to meet African Americans whose ancestors were taken away from their country centuries ago," says Opala. Musicians and dancers performed in her honor, and she was given an African name in a seaside ceremony. Mrs. Polite presented a portrait of Priscilla – created by combining the features of Sierra Leonean children with Mrs. Polite’s own at age ten – to the Sierra Leone National Museum. The blend of past and present that the picture contained was appropriate. In welcoming Mrs. Polite, Opala said, Sierra Leoneans "welcomed Priscilla back as well. They believed that she carried Priscilla’s spirit with her."
When this story was posted in November 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
 | PC establishes awards for top Volunteers
Gaddi H. Vasquez has established the Kennedy Service Awards to honor the hard work and service of two current Peace Corps Volunteers, two returned Peace Corps Volunteers, and two Peace Corps staff members. The award to currently serving volunteers will be based on a demonstration of impact, sustainability, creativity, and catalytic effect. Submit your nominations by December 9. |
 | Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger
When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject. |
 | Peace Corps at highest Census in 30 years
Congratulations to the Peace Corps for the highest number of volunteers in 30 years with 7,810 volunteers serving in 71 posts across the globe. Of course, the President's proposal to double the Peace Corps to 15,000 volunteers made in his State of the Union Address in 2002 is now a long forgotten dream. With deficits in federal spending stretching far off into the future, any substantive increase in the number of volunteers will have to wait for new approaches to funding and for a new administration. Choose your candidate and start working for him or her now. |
 | 'Celebration of Service' a major success
The Peace Corps Fund's 'Celebration of Service' on September 29 in New York City was a major success raising approximately $100,000 for third goal activities. In the photo are Maureen Orth (Colombia); John Coyne (Ethiopia) Co-founder of the Peace Corps Fund; Caroline Kennedy; Barbara Anne Ferris (Morocco) Co-founder; Former Senator Harris Wofford, member of the Advisory Board. Read the story here. |
 | PC apologizes for the "Kasama incident"
The District Commissioner for the Kasama District in Zambia issued a statement banning Peace Corps activities for ‘grave’ social misconduct and unruly behavior for an incident that occurred on September 24 involving 13 PCVs. Peace Corps said that some of the information put out about the incident was "inflammatory and false." On October 12, Country Director Davy Morris met with community leaders and apologized for the incident. All PCVs involved have been reprimanded, three are returning home, and a ban in the district has since been lifted. |
 | The Peace Corps Library
Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today. |
 | Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong
170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: Amsterdam News
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Sierra Leone; Anthropology; African American Issues; Slavery; Museums
PCOL23950
21
