Former Slave in Sudan to Speak at RIT, Feb. 10
Feb. 6, 2003
by Silandara Bartlett
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Francis Bok, abolitionist and former slave, will speak at Rochester Institute of Technology at 4 p.m. on Feb. 10 in celebration of Black History Month. His presentation, The Path to Freedom: Life as a Slave, will be held in Ingle Auditorium, Student Alumni Union, and is free and open to the public. Bok’s presentation is sponsored by RIT’s Black Awareness Coordinating Committee.
A native of Southern Sudan, the 22-year-old was captured and enslaved during an Arab militia raid at the age of 7. Strapped to a donkey, he was taken north to Krio where he was a slave for 10 years. After escaping in December of 1996, he was enslaved by local policemen for two months. He escaped again with the help of an Arab truck driver and eventually reached Khartoum, the capital. There, he was arrested and jailed for seven months.
After his release, he escaped to Cairo. In 1999, the United Nations resettled him in North Dakota. Bok is now an associate at the American Anti-Slavery Group in Boston. In 2000, Bok began speaking about slavery—on Capitol Hill, before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
For more information, call the BACC office at 475-5624.
NOTE TO MEDIA: To cover this event, contact Silandara Bartlett at 475-4948. Only the first five minutes of his presentation may be taped and/or photographed.
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