2007.03.14: March 14, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Sierra Leone: Anthropology: African American Issues: Rocktown Weekly: Joseph Opala and Gary Chatelain work on a computerized model of Bunce Island, an 18th century British slave castle in the Republic of Sierra Leone on the West African coast
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2007.03.14: March 14, 2007: Headlines: Figures: COS - Sierra Leone: Anthropology: African American Issues: Rocktown Weekly: Joseph Opala and Gary Chatelain work on a computerized model of Bunce Island, an 18th century British slave castle in the Republic of Sierra Leone on the West African coast
Joseph Opala and Gary Chatelain work on a computerized model of Bunce Island, an 18th century British slave castle in the Republic of Sierra Leone on the West African coast
Opala began his mission to study the castle. Over the years, he cleared the vegetation, photographed, drew and mapped the ruins. His archeological work led him to find hundreds of historical documents, he said. Finally, three years ago, Opala and his JMU colleague partnered to present his research in digital form. Using computer animation techniques, Chatelain is using Opala’s research to reconstruct a 3-D version of Bunce Island as it appeared in 1805. The finished product, Chatelain says, will have aerial views and vistas through upstairs windows not seen by humans in 250 years. Anthropologist Joseph Opala served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone.
Joseph Opala and Gary Chatelain work on a computerized model of Bunce Island, an 18th century British slave castle in the Republic of Sierra Leone on the West African coast
Actor Aids JMU Slave-Trade Research
Posted 2007-03-14
By Heather Bowser
Caption: Site caretaker Braima Bangura stands amid the ruins of Bunce Island slave castle, March 19, 2007, where Sierra Leonean slaves skilled in rice cultivation destined for North America were held. Today Bunce Island is little more than an abandoned set of ruins, crumbling stones clutched by ivy roots and overgrown weeds on a 500-metre strip of land in the muddy waters of the Sierra Leone River. Picture taken March 19, 2007. REUTERS/Katrina Manson
HARRISONBURG — A lead actor on ABC’s "Grey’s Anatomy" gave $25,000 to two James Madison University professors to work on a slave-trading computer reconstruction project.
Last week, Isaiah Washington, who plays Dr. Preston Xavier Burke, gave JMU professors Joseph Opala and Gary Chatelain money to continue work on a computerized model of Bunce Island, an 18th century British slave castle in the Republic of Sierra Leone on the West African coast.
The castle is one of about 40 major slave-trading bases that were built along the coast of West Africa. From this castle, thousands of slaves were then shipped to South Carolina and Georgia, the professors said.
Some of Washington’s ancestors came from Sierra Leone, and may have passed through the castle, a release says.
"I’ve been stomping around in those ruins for 30 years, but when I first saw the computer model, I was astonished," Opala said. "It’s like a time machine."
The Castle
Between about 1670 and 1807, traders at the Bunce Island castle shipped thousands of African captives to a life of bondage on plantations in North America and the West Indies, according to Opala’s research.
Records show that slave ships from New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts stopped at Bunce Island. In addition to South Carolina and Georgia plantation owners, Florida and Virginia plantations also used slaves shipped from the castle.
The castle, however, was abandoned in about 1840, and has remained uninhabited and like a "slave-trade ghost town" ever since, Opala said. For more than a century, the castle’s ruins — including eight cannons — lay shrouded in tropical vegetation.
"People are just astonished by it’s condition; nobody has disturbed it," he said. "The fisherman won’t go there because they believe it’s haunted."
The Project
Ghost stories aside, 30 years ago, Opala began his mission to study the castle. Over the years, he cleared the vegetation, photographed, drew and mapped the ruins.
His archeological work led him to find hundreds of historical documents, he said. Finally, three years ago, Opala and his JMU colleague partnered to present his research in digital form.
Using computer animation techniques, Chatelain is using Opala’s research to reconstruct a 3-D version of Bunce Island as it appeared in 1805. The finished product, Chatelain says, will have aerial views and vistas through upstairs windows not seen by humans in 250 years.
"We’re trying to get rooms to look just as it would have looked like with the type of lighting, the texture of the walls, the desk," Chatelain said. "The process is sort of like [computer] gaming, but without the guns."
Currently, the professors are hiring other computer technicians and archeologists to re-create an 18th century slave ship and to animate characters, including slaves, British slave traders and merchants.
With their work, the professors will make an interactive CD that teachers and students will use all over the United States. Later, the finished reconstruction will contribute to a documentary, a traveling exhibit for universities and museums, and an archaeological data bank.
"The idea is that we’ll make the Atlantic slave trade real for people" Opala said. "Even though this is a part of our history, we don’t have any pictures like we do with the Jewish Holocaust. For this, we can only imagine."
Contact Heather Bowser at 574-6218 or hbowser@dnronline.com
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Headlines: March, 2007; RPCV Joseph Opala (Sierra Leone); Figures; Peace Corps Sierra Leone; Directory of Sierra Leone RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Sierra Leone RPCVs; Anthropology; African American Issues
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Story Source: Rocktown Weekly
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Sierra Leone; Anthropology; African American Issues
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