Thursday, October 25, 2007
Lynchburg College
8:30 - 10 a.m.
Sydnor Performance Hall, Schewel Hall
- Opening Ceremony
- Welcome - Kenneth Garren, Ph.D., President, Lynchburg College
- Greetings from Lynchburg - Joan Foster, Mayor, City of Lynchburg
- A Word of Thanks - Antoine Lonoa Isofaka, President, The African Congress of the Pygmies
- Honored Guests - Shannon Valentine, Delegate, Virginia House of Representatives
- Jonathan Green, DMA, Dean of the College and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Sweet Briar College
- Jennifer Abbassi, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Science, Randolph College
Translators: W.S. Dibinga, Bruce Mayer, Ms.Trice Kabundi
10:15 - 11:45 a.m.
Sydnor Performance Hall
Panel I: Rise of Western Interventionism and Occupation of Africa in the Late Nineteenth Century
- Peggy Pittas, Ph.D., Moderator, Professor of Psychology, Assistant Dean Senior Symposium/LCSR Program, Lynchburg College
- Kairn Klieman, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, University of Houston,
Beyond Primordialist Myths: The Batwa (Pygmy) Role in Central African History (PDF)
- Tshilemalema Mukenge, Ph.D.,Morehouse Research Institute, Morehouse College
Translator: Isabelle d'Uston
2 - 3:40 p.m.
Sydnor Performance Hall
Panel II: Christian Churches and the Colonial Order in Africa
- Julius Sigler, Ph.D., Moderator, Vice President and Dean for Academic Affairs, Lynchburg College
- Dorothy Akubue-Brice, Ph.D., Professor of History, Lynchburg College
American Missionaries in Africa: Evangelism,Conversion, and Education (PDF)
- Mary Lou Hultgren, MA, Consultant and Former Director of the Hampton University Museum
Translators: W.S. Dibinga, Bruce Mayer, Ms.Trice Kabundi
7 - 8:30 p.m.
Sydnor Performance Hall
Panel III: Ota Benga: Recognition of his Life in Lynchburg
- Ralph Reavis, Ph.D., Moderator, President, Virginia University of Lynchburg
- Carrie Allen McCray, author and poet
- Katherine H. Gordon, Behavioral Interventionist for the School District of Pickens County, S.C.,
- Ted Delaney, Archivist and Curator, Old City Cemetery Museums and Arboretum, Lynchburg, Virginia, Life
Translators: W.S. Dibinga, Bruce Mayer, Ms.Trice Kabundi
Friday October 26, 2007
Virginia University of Lynchburg
8:45 a.m.
Welcome - Ralph Reavis, Ph.D. President, Virginia University of Lynchburg
9 - 11 a.m.
Panel IV: Socio-Psychological Effects of a Dominant Culture on Dominated Cultures
- W.S. Dibinga, Th.D., Ph.D., Moderator, President, The Panafrican Council, Inc., Congrès Africain des Pygmées (CONAFPY)
- Horace Rice, Ed.D. retired educator and author,
- Antoine Lonoa Isofaka, President, The African Congress of the Pygmies (CONAFPY),
"The CONAFPY, Its Nature, Objectives and Struggles for the Social, Political, Economic Rights of the Pygmies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)"
- Thérèse Pambo Eyenga, Vice-President, CONAFPY,
"Causes and Consequences of Youth Delinquency in Minority Twa Communities"
Translators: Robert White and Isabelle d'Eston
2 - 4 p.m.
Humbles Hall
Panel V: Ota Benga - From Africa to the World's Fair to the Bronx Zoo
- Patricia D. Price, M.Ed., Moderator, Associate Director, Center for Community Development and Social Justice, Lynchburg College
- Phillips Verner Bradford, Ph.D., Professor and Author,
Ota Benga's Life in Africa, Capture, and Journey to America (PDF)
- Mitch Keller, Journalist, The New York Times
Translator: Robert White
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Sweet Briar College
9:15 a.m.
Memorial Chapel
Welcome - Jonathan Green, DMA, Dean of the College and Vice President for Academic Affairs
9:30 a.m. - Noon
Panel VI: The Pygmies in Today's Congo and Beyond
- Jonathan Green, DMA, Moderator
- Grégoire Bokungu Ifangwa, Vice-President, CONAFPY
"The Plight of the Pygmies Before and After the Restoration of a Democratic Government in the DRC"
- Juan Fernando Núñez, Associate Social Affairs Officer, Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Issues, United Nations, Indigenous Peoples and the United Nations (PDF)
Translator: Therese Namenek
1:30 - 3 p.m.
Memorial Chapel
Panel VII: Encouraging International Concern and Care about the Plight of the Indigenous Peoples of the Congo and Beyond
(Panel discussion with audience)
Ann van de Graaf, Moderator, Artist, Member, Board of Trustees, Virginia University of Lynchburg
Grégoire Bokungu Ifangwa, Juan Fernando Núñez, Antoine Lonoa Isofaka, Thérèse Pambo Eyenga, Phillips Bradford, Kairn Klieman, Tshilemalema Mukenge, W.S. Dibinga
This conference is approved as a Signature Event of the Jamestown 400th Anniversary through its connection with Historical Black Colleges and Universities of Virginia.
AMAZEMENT SQUARE EVENTS HELD IN CONJUNCTION WITH THIS CONFERENCE 27 Ninth Street • Lynchburg, Virginia
The Conference Speakers and Presenters
Dr. Dorothy A. Akubue-Brice
Dr. Dorothy A. Akubue-Brice, who joined the Lynchburg College faculty in 1993, serves as associate professor of history in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. She earned a doctorate at West Virginia University (Morgantown, W.Va.) in East/West African and African-American history, a master of arts at Marshall University (Huntington, W.Va.) in social studies, and a bachelor of science at Bluefield State College (Bluefield,W.Va.) in social science. Her research interests range from evangelism and Western education in western Kenya to the Quaker perspective on education of African Americans in central Virginia. Dr. Akubue-Brice's publications include numerous chapters and articles on African-American history and culture, the contributions of African-American women to society, and the Civil Rights movement, as well as poetry. She is a frequent presenter at workshops, seminars, and conferences on the topics of diversity and African-American history and culture.
Dr. Phillips Verner Bradford
Dr. Phillips Verner Bradford, author of Ota Benga: The Pygmy in the Zoo, is the grandson of the Rev. Samuel Phillips Verner, the explorer who brought Ota Benga to America. Dr. Bradford was the executive director of the Colorado Advanced Technology Institute, CATI, for nearly twenty years. He has more than thirty-four years experience in state government, academia, basic and applied research and product development in industry, and financial and investment analysis. Dr. Bradford has published numerous technical and non-technical articles on financial and managerial subjects. A native of Washington, D.C., he holds a B.E.S. degree from Johns Hopkins University, an M.E.E. degree from the University of Virginia, and an Sc.D. from Columbia University. He is a devotee of U.S. colonial and civil war history and an amateur astronomer. Currently, Dr. Bradford is president and CEO of Sunrise Ventures, Inc., a venture firm specializing in assistance to start-up companies focused on profits derived from technologies rendering epochal changes in market and social trends. He also serves as an adjunct instructor at the Colorado School of Mines.
Dr.W.S. Dibinga
Dr.W.S. Dibinga is a citizen of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, currently living in Boston. He has served on the faculties of Harvard University, Boston College, Bentley College, and Université Nationale du Congo where he taught religion, philosophy, political economy, and languages. He is a former dean of the faculty of theology at Université Nationale du Congo and former executive director of the Mindolo Ecumenical Foundation in Kitwe, Zambia. Author of several books, Dr. Dibinga is the external representative for the African Congress of the Pygmies. He earned a Ph.D. from the Sorbonne in France, a Th.D., Th.M., and M.Div. from Harvard, and a B.A. from the College of Wooster.
Mr. Ted Delaney
Mr.Ted Delaney graduated from the University of Virginia with a bachelor of arts in anthropology. He is the co-author of Free Blacks of Lynchburg, Virginia, 1805-1865, and has written numerous articles about local African-American history and genealogy. Mr.Delaney became the archivist and curator of the Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg in 2000.
Madame Thérèse Pambo Eyenga
Madame Thérèse Pambo Eyenga has been vice president of the African Congress of Pygmies (CONAFPY) since 2005. She speaks Lingala and Twa and lives in Ilonga in the province of Bandundu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Ms. Katherine Margaret Hadley Gordon
Ms. Katherine Margaret Hadley Gordon serves as behavioral interventionist for the Pickens County, South Carolina, school district. She describes her position as "teaching teachers how to teach students with disabilities." She holds a master of education from Clemson University (South Carolina) and a bachelor of science in special education and psychology from Lynchburg College. Her Lynchburg College Senior Symposium paper, Ota Benga: One Man, Survival in Life and Death, revived interest in the life and struggles of Ota Benga and the plight of the pygmies in Lynchburg. Ms. Gordon is a member of the Palmetto State Teachers Association and the South Carolina Education Association. She serves as president of the West Union School Preservation Association which is seeking funds for the restoration of the West Union Grammar School in West Union, South Carolina.
Ms. Mary Lou Hultgren
Ms. Mary Lou Hultgren is former director of the Hampton University Museum, where she served as faculty in the museum studies program and curator of the Collection for twenty-two years. She has published numerous articles and curated many exhibitions on African art. Much of her scholarship has centered on Native Americans, including the Monacans. Ms.Hultgren earned her B.A. at Grinnell College and her M.A. at Vanderbilt University. A consultant to Hampton University Museum, she recently served as curator of its exhibition: From the River: Pamunkey Indian Pottery Traditions.
Mr. Antoine Lonoa Isofaka
Mr. Antoine Lonoa Isofaka has been president of the African Congress of Pygmies (CONAFPY) since 2005. He has taught all levels of primary school and served as principal at several elementary schools in the Democratic Republic of the Congo through the mid 1990s. He received his certificate of primary school educator in 1968. Mr. Isofaka speaks French, Lingala, and Twa. He lives in Ilonga in the province of Bandundu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Mr. Mitch Keller
Mr. Mitch Keller is the supervising editor for The New YorkTimes news service and a contributing writer to the city section of the Sunday Times, for which he wrote an article about Ota Benga's experience at the Bronx Zoo. Mr. Keller lives in the Bronx.
Dr. Kairn Klieman
Associate professor of history at the University of Houston (Texas), Dr. Kairn Klieman is a specialist in pre-colonial African history and the use of inter-disciplinary methods (comparative historical linguistics, archeology, oral tradition, and ethnography) for reconstructing the ancient African past. Her passion for African culture and history began as an undergraduate studying African art history and was reinforced through service as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). She earned a Ph.D. at the University of California at Los Angeles, and has received awards from the Social Science Research Council, Fulbright, and the Belgian-American Educational Foundation. Her fieldwork was carried out in Gabon and The Republic of Congo, and she has traveled, studied, or researched in numerous additional African and European countries including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Togo, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Belgium, and France. Dr. Klieman's first book, The Pygmies Were Our Compass: Bantu and Batwa in the History of West Central Africa, Early Times to c. 1900 C.E. (2003), was chosen by the African Studies Association as one of seven finalists for the Melville J.Herskovits Award 2004, given annually to the author of an outstanding scholarly work on Africa.
Ms. Carrie Allen McCray
Ms. Carrie Allen McCray is the author of Freedom's Child, the story of her mother, a Confederate general's black daughter; a daughter whose life was spent as a civil and women's rights activist. Some of Ms. McCray's poems from her chapbook, Piece of Time, were read at the Spoleto Festival and on PBS's All Things Considered. These poems and a short story, Adjo Min Van, first published in John A. Williams' Beyond the Angry Black, were picked up by McDougal and Little, Chicago publisher of school literature. She also has an article in The Black Woman's Sage (Sage, Social Science Publications). Ms. McCray is a cofounder of the South Carolina Writer's Workshop, a member of the Board of Governors of the South Carolina Academy of Authors, and a recipient of the 2002 Lucy Hampton Bostic Award, an award granted for outstanding literary accomplishment by the Main Library in Columbia, South Carolina.
Dr. Tshilemalema Mukenge
A research associate at Morehouse College Research Institute in Atlanta, Dr. Mukenge is a social anthropologist and native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A longtime professor at Morris Brown College, he now teaches part time at Morehouse College. His areas of research include cultural anthropology, the political economy of development and underdevelopment, ancient history of Africa, Congolese studies, and African Diaspora. Dr. Mukenge earned his Ph.D. at McGill University in Montreal and holds a B.A. from Lovanium University in Kinshasa, Congo. The author of numerous articles and the recipient of many honors, Dr. Mukenge speaks English, French, Ciluba, Lingala, and Portuguese.
Mr. Juan Fernando Núñez
Mr. Juan Fernando Núñez joined the staff of the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in January 2007 as associate social affairs officer. Prior to his appointment at the Secretariat, he was an assistant public policy officer at UNICEF's Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean. Mr. Núñez holds an M.Sc. in development management from the London School of Economics and a B.A. in political science and Latin American Studies from Yale University.
Dr. Horace R. Rice
Dr. Horace R. Rice is a retired educator and author of two books on Virginia Indians: The Buffalo Ridge Cherokee: The Colors and Cultures of a Virginian Indian Community and The Buffalo Ridge Cherokee: A Remnant of a Great Nation Divided. Dr. Rice retired from public school service in 1998 after thirty-two years, having served as assistant superintendent, principal, assistant principal, guidance counselor, and teacher in numerous Virginia schools, including schools in Bedford and Amherst counties. From 2000 to 2006, Dr. Rice was provost, vice president for academic affairs, and professor at Virginia University of Lynchburg. A resident of Madison Heights, Virginia, Dr. Rice serves on the Central Virginia Region 2000 Economic Development Council.
The Conference Planning Committee gratefully acknowledges the following Ota Benga Conference and CONFERENCE SPONSORS
Dolan Fund for Peace and Justice Series at Lynchburg College
Sweet Briar College Virginia University of Lynchburg
Randolph College
Amazement Square
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
We the People Initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities
The African Congress of the Pygmies
Private Contributions