“Talking Black in America—Roots” screens Feb. 7

The Libraries is partnering with the Language and Life Project and the African American Cultural Center to present a screening of the documentary film Talking Black in America–Roots, on Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 7:00 p.m. in the Hill Library’s Auditorium (second floor, West Wing).

Talking Black in America–Roots is a celebration of African American resiliency, creativity, and ingenuity, finding a connection of the spirit among the peoples and societies of West Africa and the African Diaspora. Filmed in Ghana, the Bahamas, and throughout the United States, it is the third program in the Emmy Award-winning “Talking Black in America” series, which consists of five interrelated documentaries on African American language and culture and their transformative influence on the United States and beyond.

“Our producer Renee Blake brought us to Ghana to interview African scholars, capture the enduring linguistic diversity there, and document sites that were significant in the international African slave trade,” says Language and Life Project video producer Neal Hutcheson. “The Bahamas makes for an interesting place to view the story, in that it has strong ties with both the Caribbean and the Atlantic sea coast.”

Hutcheson notes that Bahamian English has connections to Caribbean languages like the Jamaican Patois and a close connection with the Gullah-Geechee of the South Carolina Sea Islands, making it a fascinating place to look at the way various factors affect language development and change.

“Overall, what emerges in this film is that there is not a strong historical record that illustrates with clarity the development of African American English from Africa to the Caribbean and throughout the history of the United States, and yet there is a palpable sense of the imprint of the African American experience on the language and a powerful sense of identity that, for many, reaches all the way to Africa,” Hutcheson says.

The event is free and open to the public.