Church of Scientology National Affairs Office Hosts Black History Month Film Screening

WASHINGTON - Feb. 22, 2016 - PRLog -- In honor of Black History Month, Eric Sheppard, descendant of Moses Grandy, (Narrative of the Life of Moses Grandy, Late a Slave in the United States of America) screened the short documentary film Freedom & Slavery in the Great Dismal Swamp at the Church of Scientology National Affairs Office.  The screening was followed by special presentations by His Excellency Sheik Omar Faye, Ambassador of The Gambia to the United States and the Honorable Mr. Benjamin A. Roberts, Minister of Tourism and Culture of The Gambia.

The Great Dismal Swamp wasa place of refuge and a route to freedom for what some estimate to be upwards of 50,000 enslaved African Americans prior to the Civil War.  Located in Virginia and North Carolina, it was the first site to be recognized as a National Park Service Network to Freedom Underground Rail Road site in 2003.

But to Mr. Sheppard the Dismal Swamp is more than a site of general historical note.  It is also the backdrop of the Narrative of the Life of Moses Grandy, Late a Slave in the United States of America, published in 1843 by the British & Foreign Anti-Slavery Society of London.

As the 400^th anniversary of the beginning of slavery in the United States draws near (2019), Sheppard also has been working to re-unite and forge new ties between African Americans and their ancestral history and culture.  One of these projects has included the International Roots Homecoming Festival in The Gambia.

It was through this work that Eric Sheppard met His Excellency Sheik Omar Faye, Ambassador of The Gambia to the United States.  Ambassador Faye honored Mr. Sheppard and his work as part of the event, introduced the Homecoming Festival and gave a heartfelt welcome from The Gambia to any who wished to reconnect with their land of origin.  The Ambassador was followed by the Honorable Mr. Benjamin A. Roberts, Minister of Tourism and Culture of The Gambia, who further amplified the message, speaking of building bridges with the past as a necessity for forward movement and of using ideas and dialogue to educate, exchange and achieve mutual respect and understanding, again inviting one and all for re-connection in The Gambia.

The event was in keeping with this year’s Black History month official theme, “Hallowed Grounds:  Sites of African American Memories.”

Executive Director of the Church’s National Affairs Office, Beth Akiyama, who opened and closed the event, said that she and Eric Sheppard harmonized around the theme of Human Rights.  It was over the ideas in a film called, The Story of Human Rights, part of the program, United for Human Rights, an international educational movement to teach people all of their human rights. It is a program the Church of Scientology supports to carry forward the words of Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard that, “Human rights must be made a fact, not an idealistic dream.”

As Ms. Akiyama recalled, “Mr. Hubbard also said that, ‘Ideas and not battles, mark the forward progress of Mankind.’ It is therefore important for all of us to work together to understand our histories better so we can know and address what has been done in the past and encourage further understanding and communication so that we can all then move forward.”