The late Dr. Owen Cardwell Jr., former Rosel Schewel Distinguished Professor of Education and Human Development and co-director of the Center for Innovative Leadership and Professional Development at the University of Lynchburg, will be honored at the fifth annual “We Remember Ota Benga” Memorial Program.
The event will be held at 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Lynchburg. Admission is free and the public is invited.
“We Remember Ota Benga” honors the memory of Ota Benga, an Mbuti man from the Congo, who was brought to the U.S. in the early 1900s. He was exhibited at the 1904 World’s Fair and then displayed as a “pygmy” in the Bronx Zoo.
Benga was later rescued from the zoo and brought to Lynchburg, where he died in 1916.
Cardwell, a longtime pastor, renowned civil right activist, and well-respected Martin Luther King Jr. scholar joined Lynchburg’s education faculty in 2018. He died in 2025.
At the event, he will be remembered alongside the late Rev. Chris Roussell, rector of St. John’s, who also died in 2025. According to a press release, Cardwell and Roussell “will be honored and remembered for modeling and promoting racial harmony and human dignity.”
The event also will include an African art exhibit and gallery talk, the launch of the “Justice for Ota” campaign, and a performance by Kuumba Dance Ensemble.
For more information, email the International Ota Benga Memorial Committee, the event’s sponsor, at [email protected] or text 785.341.3591.
