Virginia State University News February 2, 2011 Dr. Abraham leads Smithsonian discussion on language and cultural links Dr. Arthur Abraham, chair of the history and philosophy departments at Virginia State University, recently spoke on the links between the Gullahs of South Carolina and Mendes of Sierra Leone at the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum in Washington, DC. This year marks the 50th Anniversary of Sierra Leone's Independence. Dr. Abraham served as a culture and language advisor for the Steven Spielberg film Amistad and Mende dialect consultant to Blood Diamond. He has been featured in the museum's current exhibition on Lorenzo Dow Turner, "Word, Shout, Song." The exhibit documents the historical and cultural journey made by people from Africa, to the Americas. Turner discovered that the Gullah people of Georgia and South Carolina still possessed parts of the language and music of their enslaved ancestors. Scholars working with traditions, particularly in Sierra Leone, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Bahia, Brazil, Mexico and Texas continue to build on the foundation of Turner's research, mostly done in the 1930s and 1940s, connecting the worlds of the African Diaspora. For more information, call (410) 858-1909 or visit http://anacostia.si.edu/News_Events/Current_Programs.htm. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 404.592.4820 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.