Jamaican Maroons

Liberated Africans

Freetown was the first and largest settlement of freed blacks from America, the Caribbean, and Europe during the middle-passage. It served as a historic free settlement for Africans and the African Diaspora throughout the abolition era.

The “One Journey” Symposium is a series of global dialogues among people of African descent in Africa and the African Diaspora whose journeys collectively reflect the black historical experience.

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Featuring Speakers and Panelists in Maryland, South Carolina, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Africa, this 1st One Journey Symposium highlights different perspectives and contributions of the journey and legacies of black Settlers and the founding of Historic Freetown 230 years ago in 1792.

Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr (Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone)
Dr. Afua Cooper (Historian & Professor, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia)
Dr. Emory Campbell (Former Director of Penn Center, South Carolina)
Dr. Nemata Blyden (Historian & Professor, George Washington University, Washington D.C.)
Amadu Massally (CEO & Founder, Fambul Tik, Heritage Company)
Karen Hudson (Principal, Auburn Drive High School, Halifax, Nova Scotia)
Dr. Ismail Rashid (Historian & Professor, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York)
Victoria Smalls (Executive Director, Gullah Geechee Cultural, Heritage Corridor, South Carolina)
Ing. Melbourne Garber (Engineer & Historian, Krio Descendants Yunion)
Eyamide Lewis-Coker (President, Creole Heritage Association, California)
Dr. Princess Dougan (President, Krio Descendants Union, Global)

Featuring Speakers and Panelists in Maryland, Texas, London, Atlanta, New York, and Africa, this 2nd One Journey Symposium highlights different perspectives and contributions of the journey and legacies of black Settlers and the founding of Historic Province of Freedom 235 years ago in 1787.

Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr (Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone)
Iyamide Thomas (Curator & Historian)
Michael Siva (Historian)
Amadu Massally (CEO & Founder, Fambul Tik, Heritage Company)
Gabriel Greaves (Historian & Professor)
Dr. Ismail Rashid (Historian & Professor, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York)
Akindele Decker (Curator, Writer, Co-Founder African Curator)
Adrian Labor (Engineer, Co-Founder African Curator)

Featuring Speakers and Panelists in Jamaica, Canada, United States, Freetown, and Africa, this 3rd One Journey Symposium highlights different perspectives and contributions of the journey and legacies of Jamaican Maroons, Africa-Caribbean connections and the founding of Historic Maroon Town in Africa 222 years ago in 1800.

Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr (Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone)
Amadu Massally (CEO & Founder, Fambul Tik, Heritage Company)
Akindele Decker (Curator, Writer, Co-Founder African Curator)
Adrian Labor (Engineer, Co-Founder African Curator)
Chief Michael Grizzle (Chief of Trelawny Town Flagstaff Maroon Council)
Gloria Simms (CEO Maroon Indigenous Women’s Circle)
Dr. Nemata Blyden (George Washington University)
Danny Labor (Co-Founder, AfriCaribbean Festival)
Empress Jalloh (Co-Founder, AfriCaribbean Festival)
Dr. Malcolm Finney (Professor & Historian)
David Adesina During (Palm Wine Band – Toronto)
Ing. Melbourne Garber (Historian and Engineer)
Natassja Bynoe (African Diaspora Institute of Cultural Exchange)
Victor Barber-Richards (Maroon Church – Freetown)
Trevor Young (Sierra Leone to the Top)

More Details Coming Soon…