Distinguished Speakers Forums
On Saturday, June 23, 2007, from noon to1:30 p.m., Diaspora guests can choose among three forums in the Distinguished Speakers Forums that explore an array of subjects. Each is designed to not only enhance your understanding but designed for you to add your knowledge through discussion. We have assembled world renowned authorities on three different engaging subjects. The speakers include: Cornelia Bailey, world-renown author and folklorist, will lead the forum on the History of Sapelo Island, Dr. Umoja of Georgia State University will lead the discussion on the African Diaspora and Dr. Melissa Booth of the University of Georgia Marine Institute on Sapelo Island. GA will lead a discussion on Environmental Concerns on Sapelo Island.
At your leisure, you are invited to join in any or all of our educational forums.
Cornelia Bailey
Cornelia Bailey is a storyteller, folklorist,
and the author of God, Dr. Buzzard and the Bolito
Man, a book about growing up on Sapelo Island.
She is one of a last generation of African-Americans
born, raised and schooled on Sapelo Island,
GA. Bailey traces her lineage back to an African
Muslim named Bul-Allah (or Bilali), who worked
as the head slave manager for the island's owner,
cotton planter Thomas Spalding. Bailey has become
Sapelo's "griot," an African term
for the tribal historian who, in Bailey's own
words, keeps "the oral history of the tribe,
as it [has been] passed down for thousands of
years." Cornelia Bailey has toured and
lectured extensively throughout the world.
Dr. Melissa Booth
Dr.
Melissa Booth completed a PhD. in Microbiology
and Molecular Genetics in 1997. Since that time
she has worked at the Skidaway Institute of
Oceanography, Savannah State University, University
of California, Santa Cruz, Roanoke College,
Virginia and now the University of Georgia Marine
Institute on Sapelo Island since January of
2006. Dr. Booth’s interests range from
general ecology and conservation to more specialized
questions regarding the role of microorganisms
in the functioning of marine and estuarine ecosystems.
Her work has taken her from the Artic to Antarctica
and several marine and freshwater environs between.
Her work now focuses on the coastal oceans of
southeastern Georgia.
Dr. Akinyele Umoja
Dr. Akinyele Umoja, Associate Professor in Georgia
State University’s Department of African-American
Studies at Georgia State University (GSU). Dr.
Umoja received a Ph.D. in American and African-American
Studies at Emory University in 1996. Umoja has
also presented papers at a variety of scholarly
conferences and lectured at colleges and universities,
including New York University, Princeton, University
of Illinois, UCLA, University of New Orleans,
and Tulane among others. Akinyele Umoja is also
a community activist. He has been involved in
activism and community service for thirty five
years. Umoja is currently a member of the Malcolm
X Grassroots Movement, a human rights organization
with a political agenda advocating Black self-determination,
reparations, and amnesty for political prisoners.