--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 16:25:06 -0400
From: HelenJane Armstrong <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: FW: PBS Show - not to be missed!
Sender: HelenJane Armstrong <[log in to unmask]>



This message was sent to me at the University of Florida by one of our
members of the Center for African Studies.  After reading the announcement,
I thought it would be of interest to some of the people on MAPS-L.  The time
listed for the local PBS station is Gainesville, FL.  However, the program
will be appearing on many other PBS stations nationwide.  So check your
local guides if you are interested.  I would like to know if the Library in
Timbuktu with 14th Century books contained any atlases or maps.



HelenJane Armstrong, PhD
Head, Map & Imagery Library
George A. Smathers Library
University of Florida
PO Box 117011
Gainesville, Florida 32611-7011
EMAIL: [log in to unmask]


"THIS IS NOT TO BE MISSED!

       Your local PBS station on Monday, Oct. 25th at 9:00 PM will
        present "Wonders of the African World" with Henry Louis Gates,
        Jr.

        "Black Kingdoms of the Nile" & "The Swahili Coast" (Parts 1 & 2
       of 6) A look at Egypt and the Sudan and places where few
        visitors have ever set foot. Also, journey from the
        palm-fringed coasts of Kenya and Tanzania to the legendary
        island of Zanzibar. Continues Wednesday the 27th at 9 p.m.

        Dr. Gates was interviewed on the Charlie Rose Show and promised
        to be one of the most important series since Roots.

        One example:  He comes across a library in Timbuktu in private
        hands of 50,000 books dating from the 14th Century - books on
       indigenous religions, on astrology, on accounting, etc. written
        by African scholars of the time. - books which have never been
        cataloged or their existence known.  He said it made him weep.
        They were remarkably preserved because of the dry weather and
        Harvard University and the Mellon Foundation have given him a
        grant to catalog and digitalize these books before private
        collectors descend on the place and buy them up.

        Did you know there are more pyramids in Africa than there are
        in Egypt? - they have not been excavated.  In this series Dr.
       Gates tries to give back to the world the African history that
        has been literally stolen.  Not only from the African people
        and their descendants, but from the world.  This is because in
        order to justify the slavery of African people, humanists had
        to argue that they had no written language, no history, no
        culture, and were not capable of great thought or reason. i.e.,
        [blacks] were a different kind of human being and therefore it
        was okay to enslave.  Quite to the contrary, there were great
        civilizations, literature and art in Africa dating back to 4th
        Century B/C.  Dr. Gates says the series just barely scratches
        the surface.

        Please pass this information on to all your friends.  It
        promises to be a most extraordinary series that begins on PBS
        Oct. 25th.

        I encourage you to please get in touch with the principals and
        history teachers of your local high schools and encourage them
        to inspire their students to view this series.  If I can get a
        transcript of the Charlie Rose interview with Dr. Gates I will
        forward it to you.

        Please mark your calendar.  You can also go to the PBS website
        and have the weekly schedule sent to your e-mail address -
       which will serve to remind you the week the series begins."
>

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