Beverly Bond reports on trip to Ghana

From 11 July through 3 August, Dr Beverly Bond and Dr Dennis Laumann and nine students were in Ghana. Here is Dr Bond's report on the trip:

This summer I visited the West African nation of Ghana with our colleague, Dr. Dennis Laumann, and nine students in the African and African American Studies course "Ghanaian History and Cultures."

Dinner at the Institute of African Studies Chalets

Laura and Kristin with a group of Ghanaian students

Our first two weeks were spent in Accra based at the University of Ghana Legon.

Balme Library at the University of Ghana Legon

The students were housed in the Institute of African Studies Chalets (where they experienced a few little problems with hot water, lights and air conditioning), but Dennis and I stayed at a guest house on the campus. Our group listened to lectures by University of Ghana faculty members on culture, family and social structure, slavery and the slave trade, colonialism and the independence struggle, religion, funerals and festivals, music, and gender. Our local tours of Accra included the central market (and several smaller neighborhood marketplaces), a newly-constructed shopping mall in the East Legon neighborhood, the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial and Museum, the W.E.B. DuBois House and Mauseleum, and the beautiful Aburi Botanical Gardens.

Kwame Nkrumah statue and memorial

W.E.B. DuBois house and mausoleum

DuBois' crypt (Shirley Graham DuBois' ashes in container on pedestal)

We also visited the homes and shops of local artisans, seamstresses, hair braiders, and a cloth weavers.

Goldsmiths at work

Seamstress shop in Accra

Weaving Kente cloth

Our final week was spent traveling north to the Volta region (first on a Sunday cruise, then by van to Ho and Hohoe), then west and south to the coastal cities of Kumasi, Biriwa, Elmina, and Cape Coast.

Along the Volta River

Top of Wli Falls

Kumasi

Fishing boat in Biriwa

The most moving part of the trip was our tour of the slave castles of Elmina and Cape Coast.

Elmina

Inside Elmina

Display of shackles inside Elmina

Inside Elmina: The Door of No Return

Our final "challenge" was the "canopy" walk - crossing seven narrow suspension bridges high above the rainforest. We could look down and see the monkeys swinging in the trees. I purchased and can proudly wear my "I survived the Canopy Walk" tee shirt.

Canopy walk

I spent a week in Memphis after I returned from Ghana, then went to Massachusetts for a short visit. I'll send more pictures of that trip later.

Beverly Bond

Joe Hawes and Gail Murray tour Italy

Gail and I were fortunate in that her trip to Italy was funded by a grant to Rhodes for their Search Program. She and twelve other faculty toured Italy visiting historic sites from the ancient world before we met in Florence. Stops on this part of the trip included Naples,
Pompeii, Herculaneum, Cuma, Rome, and Assisi. After an intense two weeks, we met in Florence for a more leisurely tour of Tuscany. The first several images are from Gail’s earlier trip.

Pompeii and Vesuvius

St. Claire, Assisi

Many of the best things to see in Florence are relatively close together and the city can be explored mostly on foot. For example the well-known Ponte Vecchio over the Arno was just a few blocks from our hotel.

Ponte Vecchio over the Arno in Florence

We did not have time to see all that Florence offered (next trip perhaps?) but we especially enjoyed the Boboli Gardens and the impressive Porta Roma at the bottom of the gardens.

Porta Roma

We also toured the “Academy” where Michelangelo’s original “David” is to be found. As we were looking at the statue, we heard a distinctive American voice exclaim “Nice butt!” We were surprised and delighted to find an exhibit of 17th-century musical instruments, including a most impressive snake-like bassoon.

The classic Pietà by Michelangelo

A later Pietà by Michelangelo

From Florence we traveled to the Cinque Terra (5 lands) on the coast just south of Genoa. This was very beautiful country with equally delightful weather.

Cinque Terra coast

Vernazza, a coastal town

Beach

We hiked between the towns and then returned by boat. Our accommodation was in the countryside in a terraced olive grove. We learned how to navigate Italian trains (pretty much on time) and busses traveling by train and bus from the Cinque Terra to Sienna, a truly inviting small city.

Sienna

Duomo, Sienna

St. Dominic's, Sienna

From Sienna we went on to Montepulciano, a well-known Tuscan hill town famous for the wine produced there. Our hotel room had a balcony which overlooked the Tuscan countryside. Both Sienna and Montepulciano were easy to navigate and we sometimes eavesdropped on tour groups (though most of these were German). In Sienna we went to the old fortress for a vista of the city. I don’t know what we expected inside the fortress, but certainly not the loud and garish carnival we found!

From Sienna we moved on to Rome for a short visit before returning to Memphis. We toured the Vatican and the Piazza de Populo where we found another carnival! Dinner at an open air restaurant capped off our trip.

St. Peter's Square, Rome

Vestal Virgins in the Forum

Our observations are few and simple. We would return to see more at the earliest opportunity –for the gelato if for no other reason. We never had a bad meal or any major difficulty (neither of us speak any Italian).

Vegetable market in Florence

Dining in Florence

People were friendly and helpful and at every turn there was something to see, but as always on such quick trips there is more still to see.

Joe Hawes

Dr Marcel Oyono writes from Cameroon

Dr Marcel Oyono, who received his Ph.D. from the Department of History at The University of Memphis in 2004, writes from Cameroon that he is doing well and misses the folks in Memphis. He currently is the Director of the Department of Health of the Presbyterian Church of Cameroon. He hopes to teach at the state university during the coming year.

Dr Oyono asks that we pass along his addresses so that his friends can communicate with him. His email address is vipere_85@yahoo.fr and his mailing address is Dr Marcel Ngbwa Oyono, P.O.Box 37 Zoetele, Cameroon.

Dr Oyono's dissertation, which was directed by Dr Janann Sherman, was "Colonization and Ethnic Rivalries in Cameroon since 1884."

Jan Sherman sends pictures from trip to Colombia

Jan Sherman, who sent pictures from Wyoming and Alberta a couple of weeks ago, is back from a trip to Colombia, where she visited with Guiomar Dueñas-Vargas. The following are samples of the many photographs she took while there:



The mountains are incredibly lush and beautiful. It rains a part of most days and the air is cool (60s) and moist.



Guiomar and I spent the night in this hacienda about 3 hours from Bogotá. It was built in 1638 by the Domincan monks and is now a luxury hotel.



Bogotá is a very large, noisy city. Eight million people call it home. It looks best from this angle.



In a small village two hours outside of Bogotá, we found this beautiful church. It's very different from the usual churches that dominate small villages, which more often resemble the Spanish colonial style church in the following picture.



Note the Colombian sculpture in the foreground. This village of Sopo honors both its pre-Spanish and Spanish heritage.



This is a Catholic country, and the veneration of the Madonna is ubiquitous. Shrines to the Madonna are found in public buildings, on street corners, in front yards, and, in this case, on top a hill next to a gas station.



This photo and the one following were taken in the lovely mountain village of Villa de Leyva. The architecture is typical of this part of Colombia. Buildings are either blindingly white or very colorful.

Staying in Memphis? See the exhibit "Battle for the Vote: A History of Voting Rights in America"

Yesterday we posted an item about an exhibit in Atlanta about the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Today we learned that the National Civil Rights Museum here in Memphis is mounting its own exhibit about the Act. The Museum usually mounts exhibits organized by other institutions, but this exhibit was conceived and executed by the Museum's board and staff.

The opening, with a free reception, will be Saturday, 6 August, from 3 pm to 6 pm. The exhibit will be up until 18 December 2005. The Museum's hours for the month of August are Monday, Wednesday-Saturday, 9 am to 6 pm; Sunday, 1 pm to 6 pm. Hours for the Fall season will be announaced later.

Admission for adults is $12; students (with ID) and the elderly, $10; children 4-17, $8.50. Free admission Monday, 3 pm to 6 pm. Call 901.521.9699, extension 241, to request group tours.

For further information, visit the Museum's Web site or call 901.521.9699.

Going to Atlanta? See the exhibit “Of Ballots Uncast: The African-American Struggle for the Right to Vote”

If you are planning travel in the Atlanta area within the next six months, you might want to take in the exhibit entitled “Of Ballots Uncast: The African-American Struggle for the Right to Vote,” which opens at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site Visitor Center today (4 August 2005) and continues through 7 March 2006. The exhibit is in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson on 6 August 1965.

The exhibit is sponsored by the African American Experience Fund/National Park Foundation and the National Archives and Records Administration. There is no admission charge. The Visitor Center is located at 450 Auburn Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia. Exhibit hours are 9 am to 6 pm daily through 14 August, and 9 am to 5 pm thereafter through 7 March 2006, except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Days. For more information, call 404. 331.5190 or visit the Web site at
http://www.nps.gov/malu/pphtml/eventdetail18353.html