~~Adz:Left~~ BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS ( AUGUST 2007) –The St. Kitts and Nevis National Bicentenary Committee is pleased to announce that the third and final lecture of our Cry Freedom Distinguished Public Lecture Series will be held on Wednesday, 15th August 2007. This lecture will feature the reknown Ashra Kwesi, Researcher and Egyptologist, USA with Dr. George Belle, Dean of the Department of Social Sciences, University of the West Indies, Cavehill Campus. Mr. Kwesi will be delivering a powerful slide presentation on the topic “The African Origin of Civilization: Sacred Knowledge that Shaped our World”. It will be held at 7:30 pm at the Sir Cecil Jacobs Auditorium at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank.
Mr. Antonio Maynard, Secretary General of the UNESCO National Commission and Chair of the National Bicentenary Committee, is inviting the general public to once again “come out and embark with us on a historical and chronological journey in the ancient history of African people.
Mr. Kwesi, drawing on 26 years of historical research in Africa, covering Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya and Ghana, will reveal firsthand information from the ancient temples, tombs and papyrus papers recorded during a period when African people were teachers of the World! This lecture will provide insight into the tremendous contributions of African people towards modern civilization and will overturn the misconception that Caribbean People are a people without a past, whose history began with slavery”
The Lecture Series is part of the commemorative activities that have been organized to celebrate the Bi-centenary of the Abolition of the British Trans-Atlantic Trade in Africans. To date, two lectures have been delivered which, by all accounts were tremendously successful and impactful.
The first lecture was held under the theme “The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Slavery: The Psychic Inheritance” by the Hon. Rex Nettleford on 23rd May 2007. Lecture 2 was recently delivered on 25th July by Dr. Verene Shepherd who expounded on the theme “In Our Own Words: In Search of a More Liberating and Self-Affirming Caribbean Identity”. The National celebrations will culminate on 23rd August with the Cry Freedom Concert that will feature grand performances by national and regional artistes.
