2008.09.20: September 20, 2008: Headlines: Figures: COS - Sierra Leone: Anthropology: African American Issues: Patriotic Vanguard: Joseph Opala created an exhibit on Bunce Island, which will be on display at the Heritage Days symposium
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2008.09.20: September 20, 2008: Headlines: Figures: COS - Sierra Leone: Anthropology: African American Issues: Patriotic Vanguard: Joseph Opala created an exhibit on Bunce Island, which will be on display at the Heritage Days symposium
Joseph Opala created an exhibit on Bunce Island co-sponsored by the Friends of Sierra Leone (FoSL), a group of former Peace Corps Volunteers and Sierra Leoneans living in the United States
The Gullahs are known for preserving more of their African linguistic and cultural heritage than any other African American community in the United States. They speak an English-based creole language. They eat rice three times a day. They have "basket names" (special African names used within the community like Musa, Fatmata, Tamba, and Issa). And look like people you will find anywhere in Sierra Leone. They are indeed, our long lost brothers and sisters. The exhibit includes the historic drawings of the Bunce Island castle dating to the 1600s - 1700s, photographs of Gullah people who visited Bunce Island, and a 10 minute video shot in SL. This exhibit was built by Joseph Opala and his team of professors and students at James Madison University. The exhibit is sponsored by two Washington-based organizations: the Friends of Sierra Leone (FoSL), a group of former Peace Corps Volunteers and Sierra Leoneans living in the United States, and the Sierra Leone-Gullah Heritage Association (SLGHA), a group of Sierra Leoneans devoted to their country’s historical links to African Americans. Follow this link for more information.
Anthropologist Joseph Opala served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone.
Joseph Opala created an exhibit on Bunce Island co-sponsored by the Friends of Sierra Leone (FoSL), a group of former Peace Corps Volunteers and Sierra Leoneans living in the United States
SLGHA Announces Penn Center Heritage Days
- Saturday 20 September 2008.
Sierra Leone Gullah Heritage Association (SLGHA)
Press Release
Penn Center, the most highly respected Gullah community center, hosts a festival called Heritage Days every year. It is held the second weekend in November to celebrate the unique cultural heritage of the Gullah people of Low Country South Carolina and Georgia. That culture is strongly influenced by Sierra Leone. There are striking similarities in culture, language, diet, and even naming practice. Part of our culture has stood the test of time right here in the US.
The Gullahs are known for preserving more of their African linguistic and cultural heritage than any other African American community in the United States. They speak an English-based creole language. They eat rice three times a day. They have "basket names" (special African names used within the community like Musa, Fatmata, Tamba, and Issa). And look like people you will find anywhere in Sierra Leone. They are indeed, our long lost brothers and sisters.
There is a special theme every year at Penn Center Heritage Days. This year Penn Center is commemorating the slave trade connection between Bunce Island, a British slave castle in SL and the Low Country of South Carolina and Georgia. There will be a panel of speakers at the Heritage Symposium, including historian Joesph Opala, who lived in SL for 17 years and did a great deal of research on Bunce Island. Mr. Opala created an exhibit on Bunce Island, which will be on display at the Heritage Days symposium. The exhibit includes the historic drawings of the Bunce Island castle dating to the 1600s - 1700s, photographs of Gullah people who visited Bunce Island, and a 10 minute video shot in SL.
This exhibit, which is co-sponsored by the Sierra Leone-Gullah Heritage Association (SLGHA) was built by Joseph Opala and his team of professors and students at James Madison University. The exhibit will be a focus at the Symposium to be held on Friday, November 7, 2008 at 8:30 A.M. See the following link www.bunce-island.org for more information on the exhibit.
The Sierra Leone-Gullah Heritage Association is mobilizing Sierra Leoneans all over the United States to bring them to this important event in SC in order to help foster lasting relationships with their long lost brothers and sisters. This is the second year that we will bring Sierra Leoneans to Penn Center’s Heritage days.
Sierra Leoneans are no strangers to the Penn Center on St. Helena Island, SC. President Joseph Momoh visited Penn Center in 1988 to reconnect SL to the Gullah community. The following year Penn Center Director, Emory Campbell led a delegation of Gullah community leaders on a historic homecoming visit to Sierra Leone. In 2006 the Sierra Leone-Gullah Heritage Association was presented the key to the City of Beaufort, SC, at a ceremony conducted at Penn Center. That year, our organization held the first-ever Trans-Atlantic Red Rice Cook-off luncheon that featured a friendly competition between Gullah red rice cooks and our own Sierra Leonean jollof rice cooks. When you talk to Gullah people about rice, you notice the same sparkle in their eyes as when you talk to Sierra Leoneans about rice.
There have been three Gullah Homecomings to Sierra Leone during the past twenty years - the Gullah Homecoming (1989), the Moran Family Homecoming (1997), and Priscilla’s Homecomig (2005). The Gullahs who have visited Sierra Leone, will all tell you about the positive difference it has made in their lives. They will also tell you that during their visit to Bunce Island they felt the spirits of their ancestor at a place "where history sleeps." Bunce Island, located twenty miles into the Freetown harbor, has been called "the most important historic site in Africa for the United States."
We hope Sierra Leoneans, and their various organizations, will join us in our ongoing quest to reconnect with our long lost kindred. This is particularly important as we approach the 50th Anniversary of our National Independence.
About SLGHA
The Sierra Leone-Gullah Heritage Association (SLGHA) is an educational-oriented non-profit organization aimed at promoting an understanding of the common history between Sierra Leone and the USA, foster the re-connection to the Sierra Leonean-American community, and preserve this shared heritage.
Objectives include:
- Preserve the Sierra Leonean (and/or West African) heritage and culture evident in the daily practices of Gullah Life.
- Foster Tourism in both Sierra Leone and Gullah Communities.
- Conserve pertinent historical sites and artifacts.
- Develop and empower public speakers that will go out and tell the story of the Sierra Leonean direct link with America.
- Work with the Sierra Leone and US Governments to advocate favorable policies to affect both communities.
- Utilize theatre, books, exhibits, events, media, etc. to present the history of this shared heritage.
SLGHA
Amadu Massally
Chairman
Phone: 703-955-9212
Email: amadu.massally@slgha.com
SLGHA
Akindele Decker
Secretary-General
Phone: 301-931-3434
Email: akindeledecker@gmail.com
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: September, 2008; 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: Patriotic Vanguard
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Sierra Leone; Anthropology; African American Issues
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