GLC@Lunch: "Boima Kiakpomgbo and his Diary: A Perspective on Indigenous Slavery in Liberia, 1913-1923"

GLC@Lunch with Charles Riley

Hybrid event:

In person | Yale University Rosenkranz Hall, Room 241, 115 Prospect Street, New Haven 06511
*Note: In-person seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Online | Zoom
*Use registration link above.

Charles Riley (Catalog Librarian for African Languages, Yale University Library)

The indigenous Vai script, invented in about 1832 by Momolu Duwalu Bukele and his companions, has long been a topic of interest in the study of Liberia. Its traces from the early period of Liberia's history are well-documented but rare. A manuscript of about 40 pages from the 1840's is housed in Harvard's special collections, and other items of note are held by the British Library and the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich. Out of the Vai manuscript material that has survived into the 21st century, the diary of Boima Kiakpomgbo stands out as the longest handwritten work at 180 pages. It originated in the town of Mando in the period of 1913-1923, a time when archives of other Vai manuscript material were burned down in raids on Dshondu and Bandakoro. It carries weight as a strong example of the script while also raising important questions about the nature of indigenous Liberian slavery of the time it was written.