Recognize and celebrate the ‘200 Years of Returns’ performances in Gbarnga, Liberia and Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Admission: By invitation only (not open to the public)
Recognize and celebrate the December 2022 ‘200 Years of Returns’ trip to Liberia organized and sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Krieger School program in Racism, Immigration and Citizenship (‘RIC’) and the Baltimore-Gbarnga Sister City Committee. This will include presentation of the Baltimore Mayor’s ‘Certificates of Recognition’ to the 29 youth and adults who traveled to Liberia or supported the trip in other ways. Enjoy a cultural troupe performance, premiere screening of ‘200 Years of Returns” as performed on UNESCO World Heritage site Providence Island in Liberia, Q&A with the actors and travelers, and a light reception. Liberia is the country where freemen and ex-slaves, many from Maryland and Virginia, were returned to Africa beginning in 1822 as a result of the American Colonization Society and the Abolitionists Movement to decrease the number of freemen and ex-slaves as one method of abolishing slavery. The Republic of Liberia was formed in 1847. The Baltimore-Gbarnga Sister City Committee was formed in 1973 and was the first of Baltimore’s nine sister city relationships.
200 Years of Returns is a collaboration between Maryland nonprofit B4 Youth Theatre and the Museum Theater Department of Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. The 2022 performances marking the Liberian bicentennial featured Baltimore’s Just One Spirit Dance Company and Angels of Praise of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church.
Donations at this event will support the three central Maryland community organizations involved: Baltimore-Gbarnga Sister Cities, B4 Youth Theatre, and the Angels of Praise dance group out of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church on Belvedere.
More info about the 2022 trip to Liberia: RIC Supports Trip to Liberia for Baltimore Schoolchildren
