| Francis
Bok
 Francis
Bok is a 23 year-old native of Southern Sudan. At the age of seven,
he was captured and enslaved during an Arab militia raid on the
village of Nymlal (outside Aweil) on May 15, 1986. Bok saw adults
and children brutalized and killed all around him. He was strapped
to a donkey and taken north to Kirio. For 10 years, he lived as the
family slave to Giema Abdullah, forced to sleep with cattle, endure
daily beatings and eat terrible food. Always called "abeed"
(black slave), Bok was given an Arabic name - Dut Giema Abdullah -
and forced to perform Islamic prayers.
In December of 1996, Bok escaped to the
nearby town of Matari, where he was enslaved by local policemen for
two months. But an Arab truck driver helped Bok escape and
eventually to reach Khartoum, the capital. In Khartoum, Bok was
arrested by the security forces and jailed for seven months. After
being released, Bok escaped to Cairo. In 1999, the United Nations
resettled him in North Dakota. Bok is now an Associate at the
American Anti-Slavery Group in Boston.
On May 23, 2000, Bok spoke out for the
first time at a Capitol Hill ceremony with Senators and Congressmen,
sharing his message: "We cannot rest until my people are
free." On September 18, 2000, Bok spoke alongside Coretta Scott
King, widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at the Boston Freedom
Award ceremony.
On September 28, 2000, Bok became the
first escaped slave to testify before the Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations in hearings on Sudan that were broadcast live on
C-Span. Later that day, he met with Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright and urged her to take action against slavery. On December
4, 2000, he headlined a panel discussion on slavery at Harvard's
Kennedy School of Government.
Bok has been featured in The Boston
Globe, The Christian Science Monitor and dozens of other newspapers,
and has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows, including Black
Entertainment Television.
On April 28, 2001, Bok launched the
website iAbolish.com, a Boston-based American Anti-Slavery Group. He
has been honored by the Boston Celtics as a "Hero Among
Us" for community service, and in December 2001 he carried the
Winter Olympic Torch on its national relay tour. Bok's
autobiography, Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years
in Captivity - and My Journey to Freedom in America, will be
published in the fall of 2003.
http://www.iabolish.com/escape/default.htm
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Lyceum Series
Fall 2004 - Spring 2005
click on speaker name for more information on speakers
Sept.
15 — Cory Booker
"How To Change The World With Your Bare Hands
"
7:30 pm
The Jane M. Smith Memorial Church
Oct.
6 — Ida Hakim,
C.U.R.E. Founder and Curator
"Caucasians United for Reparations and Emancipation
"
7:30 pm
The Jane M. Smith Memorial Church
Nov.
2 — Francis Bok
7:30 pm
The Jane M. Smith Memorial Church
Nov.
9 — Joyce Appleby, Ph.D.
Professor Emerita, University of California in Los Angeles
Phi Beta Kappa Lecture
“Coming to Terms with Thomas Jefferson”
7:30 pm
The Jane M. Smith Memorial Church
Feb.
2 — Awadagin Pratt, Piano Virtuoso
Piano Recital
7:30 pm
The Jane M. Smith Memorial Church
Feb.
16 — JCSU Faculty Showcase: John Fitch, III
“Maxyme” Film Screening
4:00 pm & 7:00 pm
Newsom Humanities Building Room
March
9 — Dr. Charles L. Blockson
Historian and Curator
A Historian’s Quest: Research Above Ground and Underground
7:30 pm
TBA
March 29 —April 1: 9th Annual World
of Words Poetry Festival
March
29 —Terrence Hayes, Poet and Educator
Workshop
4:00 pm
Humanities 108
Poetry Reading
7:30 pm
Grimes Lounge
March
30 — JCSU Favorite Poems Night
Poetry Reading
7:00 pm
Grimes Lounge
March
31 — Ursula Rucker, Performance Poet and Recording Artist
Workshop
4:00 pm
Humanities 108
Poetry Performance
7:30 pm
Grimes Lounge
April
1 — Black Ink Monks, Inc. of Johnson C. Smith University
Fourth Annual Performance by the Black Ink Monks, Inc.
7:30 pm
Grimes Lounge
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