Joseph Opala (born August 4, 1950) is the scholar who identified the "Gullah Connection," the historical link between the Gullah people in South Carolina and Georgia and the West African nation of Sierra Leone.
An American, Opala lived in Sierra Leone for 17 years, doing research on the Atlantic slave trade and working with that country's leaders to highlight Sierra Leone's links to African Americans. In 1988 he organized a visit by Sierra Leone'...
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Joseph Opala (born August 4, 1950) is the scholar who identified the "Gullah Connection," the historical link between the Gullah people in South Carolina and Georgia and the West African nation of Sierra Leone.
An American, Opala lived in Sierra Leone for 17 years, doing research on the Atlantic slave trade and working with that country's leaders to highlight Sierra Leone's links to African Americans. In 1988 he organized a visit by Sierra Leone's President Joseph Saidu Momoh to a Gullah community in South Carolina. He later organized three African American homecomings to Sierra Leone—the “Gullah Homecoming” (1989), the “Moran Family Homecoming” (1997), and “Priscilla’s Homecoming” (2005). These events are chronicled in the documentary films "Family Across the Sea," "The Language You Cry In," and "Priscilla's Homecoming" (in production).
Opala has uncovered some remarkably specific connections between the Gullah people and Sierra Leone. The Gullahs are African Americans who live in...
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