Out Of Africa Lecture Series
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The Peopling of Ancient Egypt: Indigenous African Civilization, Pharaoh Tutankhamun and His Family
Download in 7 parts parts here.
Upcoming
Fall, 2007 - Winter, 2008: "The Identity of Black Philadelphia"
With a population of 650,000 African Americans in Philadelphia County alone and as a complement to the IDENTITY exhibit, a panel will explore the question of what being black in Philadelphia has meant historically, means today and will mean in the future. The IDENTITY exhibit covers three different areas of identity - physical, psychological and cultural - and seeks to challenge its visitors to see themselves and others from new perspectives. The panel will posit the same set of inquiries in specific to the black experience in Philadelphia.
January 16, 2008: "Together Out of Africa"
Themed to complement the IDENTITY exhibit, this lecture explores the identity of man; the origins of the species as it were. Dr. Spencer Wells, Explorer in Residence at the National Geographic Society and the director of the Genographic Project, the largest survey of human genetic diversity ever undertaken, will lecture on his finding, through genetic marker testing, that all of humanity is descended from a small Africa population. Over a time line dating back only 60,000 years, Africans populated the rest of the world, as branches to that original family tree.
June, 2008: "The Slave Ship Whydah"
REAL PIRATES: The Untold Story of the Whydah From Slave Ship to Pirate Ship is the Summer, 2008 exhibit from Arts and Exhibitions International and the National Geographic Society, the organizations that brought Philadelphia the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibition. The Whydah, discovered and salvaged by world famous underwater explorer Barry Clifford, initially set sail from England for West Africa - to carry human cargo to the Caribbean. Before its first voyage was complete, it was waylaid by Black Sam Bellamy, a pirate captain, and became a multi-cultural pirate vessel until it sank in a storm in 1717 off the coast of Provincetown.
May 25, 2009 - September 27, 2009: "RACE: Are We So Different?"
A series of lectures will be presented in conjunction with the exhibition RACE: Are We So Different? encourages dialogue on the charged issue of race in America from a contemporary scientific perspective. The differences among us are natural variations, the results of migration, marriage and adaptation to different environments.