Press Releases

The Journey Continues - His Excellency Bockarie Kortu Stevens, Joseph Opala and Amadu Massally

South Carolina State University
I. P. Stanback Museum and Planetarium
“The Stanback”
Where
Civil Rights and Arts encounter Science and Humanities

http://www.scsuCRASH.blogspot.com

Contact: Ingrid Owens
Program Manager
I.P. Stanback Museum and Planetarium
300 College Street, Northeast │Post Office Box 7636│Orangeburg, SC 29117│803.536-7174
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ORANGEBURG, S.C., November 3, 2008 – The I.P. Stanback Museum and Planetarium “The Stanback” on the campus of South Carolina State University “SC State” presents the Journey Continues, a series of lectures, workshops and performances accompanying the exhibition, Journey from Africa to Gullah. The series continues on Thursday, November 6th at 5:30p.m., with His Excellency Bockarie Kortu Stevens “His Excellency Stevens”, the Ambassador of the Republic of Sierra Leone to the United States of America. His Excellency Stevens will be a special guest of SC State and the I.P. S HE Bockari Kortu Steven tanback Museum and Planetarium and will make several appearances as a preamble to SC States’ International Month and its’host of speakers and activities. On Thursday, following His Excellency, the Stanback will also host Joseph Opala,anthropologist and public historian. He will present "Priscilla's Homecoming: A Gullah Woman Finds Her Roots in Sierra Leone". In addition to His Excellency and Opala, Amadu Massally, the chairperson of the Sierra Leone-Gullah Heritage Association, will also be a special guest on Thursday. During their two day stay, each guest will make appearances and give lectures. Please call the I.P. Stanback Museum and Planetarium at (803) 536-7174 for further information.

Sierra Leone-Gullah Heritage Formed in US

Concord Times (Freetown)
NEWS
April 20, 2006
Posted to the web April 20, 2006

By Ibrahim Seibure
Freetown

The cultural and historic links between Gullahs in the United States and Sierra Leoneans are by now common knowledge to most, if not all Sierra Leoneans. At various times interest and excitement has reached such fever pitch that even presidents were moved to action.

Come Join Us on the Amistad... Salone Day!

Sunday 7 September 2008.
Press Release

2008 marks the 200th year of the abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the US. It happens that the Amistad Revolt, a historical legacy of Sierra Leone and the United States, is one of the most celebrated cases of slave rebellion. The Amistad story is one of FREEDOM: enslaved Africans were freed and shortly after repatriated back to their country of origin. The legacy of La Amistad has made the following impact in American history:

The American Civil War: La Amistad slave revolt further embittered and exacerbated the wedge between the anti-slavery North and the slave-holding South.

SLGHA announces Penn Center Heritage Days – 2008

Date: Saturday 18 October 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.