NEWS

Presbyterians' first black missionary to Africa topic of book, UNC program

By JOY McNEIL
UNC Sonja Haynes Stone Black Cultural Center

Author and activist Pagan Kennedy will discuss her new biography of the Presbyterian Church's first black missionary to Africa on Jan. 14 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The Sonja Haynes Stone Black Cultural Center will present the free public program, "Basketful of Hands: How William Sheppard Documented Atrocities in the Congo," at 7 p.m. in the Bull's Head Bookshop. The shop is inside the UNC Student Stores off South Road.

Kennedy will recount Sheppard's observations, adventures and eyewitness accounts of horrors in the Congo, and how he made the world aware of atrocities committed by the Belgians in their quest to control the region. Her presentation is based on, and will include a discussion of, her book, "Black Livingstone: A True Tale of Adventure in the Nineteenth-Century Congo."

"I'm going to give the audience some sense of William Sheppard's personality, and then I'll discuss his exploration of 19^th-century Congo," she said. Sheppard, a Southern preacher educated at Hampton Institute, wanted to serve as a missionary in Africa at a time when Jim Crow laws dominated the post-Civil War south.

Kennedy will draw parallels between the Congo of the 19^th century and the Congo of today. "I will discuss the Belgian rubber industry at that time, and how a sudden demand for rubber fueled the exploitation of the African land and people," she said. "A United Nations report recently accused 85 multinational corporations of fueling war, rape and terror in the Congo in order to get minerals for cheaper prices."

Kennedy has written seven books including "The Spinsters," nominated in 1996 for the Orange Prize for Women's Writing. Sponsored by the British company Orange, a mobile phone service, the prize is given annually for fiction by women. Kennedy also wrote "The Exes" and "Zine," an anthology of extracts from her self-published fanzine, "Pagan's Head."

In 1998, Kennedy spearheaded an online anti-Nike advertising campaign. She currently works with moveon.org, an online activism group that builds electronic grassroots advocacy groups on topics including campaign finance, environmental and energy issues, impeachment, gun safety and nuclear disarmament.

"Black Livingstone" is her first biography. "I was drawn to tell the story of William Sheppard because I wanted to use my skills as a novelist to illuminate the life of an incredible man," she said.

UNC's Stone Center encourages and supports critical examination of all dimensions of African-American and African diaspora cultures through sustained and open discussion, dialogue and debate. The center also seeks to enhance the intellectual and socio-cultural climate at UNC and beyond campus boundaries. It is named in honor of the late Dr. Sonja Haynes Stone, a UNC professor and center advocate.

For more information, call the center at 919-962-9001.

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Contacts: Brandi Williams or Trevaughn Eubanks, 919-962-9001