Thursday, January 18, 2001

WILMINGTON, NC –Anthropologist Joseph Opala will present “The Language You Cry In: African-American Roots in Sierra Leone” at 7 p.m., Feb. 12, in UNCW’s Warwick Center Ballroom.



Opala, who lived in Sierra Leone for more than 20 years, is known for his research on the Gullah connection, the historical thread linking Africans from Sierra Leone and other West African countries with the Gullah people of coastal South Carolina and Georgia, and the black Seminole people in Oklahoma, Texas, Mexico and the Bahamas.



The 1998 documentary The Language You Cry In was based on his discovery of an ancient African song preserved by a family in coastal Georgia. Opala and his colleagues found a village in Sierra Leone where the same song is still being sung. In 1997, Opala took the Georgia family to Africa for a reunion.



A history professor at James Madison University, Opala taught at the Institute of African Studies from 1985 to 1991. He was also an adviser to the president of Sierra Leone on cultural policy.

Sponsors of this free presentation are the UNCW Office of International Programs, the Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of History and the Office of Campus Diversity.



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