LOOKING FOR:
FoSL MEMBERS
TO PROMOTE
THE BUNCE ISLAND EXHIBIT
Bunce Island is the British slave castle near Freetown that sent thousands of African captives to slavery in South Carolina and Georgia during the 1700s.
FoSL is sponsoring a traveling exhibit on Bunce Island prepared by Professor Joseph Opala (PCV 74-77) and his students at James Madison University in Virginia. The exhibit -- comprised of display panels and a short video -- contains a great deal of information on Sierra Leone and its historical ties to the United States.
To get the exhibit around the country, we need FoSL members willing to promote it in their own local communities.
If you know someone in your state who works for a college, museum, or library and who might want this exhibit for his (or her) own institution, please draw their attention to the exhibit's website at: http://www.bunce-island.org
And if they are interested, please ask them to contact Joseph Opala directly at: opalajx@jmu.edu
When making your pitch for the exhibit, you can remind people that 2008 is the 200th anniversary of the US Congress's prohibition of the Atlantic slave trade. This exhibit is an excellent way to mark that anniversary.
Bunce Island has been called "the most important historic site in Africa for the United States." A number of RPCV's have been working for years to raise the money needed to preserve this site, and getting this exhibit around the US will greatly assist their efforts.
If we can preserve Bunce Island and make it a regular stop for African Americans coming on heritage tours to Africa, this will highlight Sierra Leone's important historical ties to the US and help boost the country's economy in a variety of ways.
Your help will be much appreciated.
