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Associate Professor of English Susan S.
Lester will present “Savannah Church and the Caribbean
Connection” on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2006, at 2:45 p.m. in room 100
of the George M. Lawson Academic Center, Reinhardt College,
Waleska, Ga.
Lester will trace the ministry of George
Liele, a freed slave who established the First African Baptist
Church in Savannah, Ga., in the 1770s, and then moved his
ministry to Kingston, Jamaica. He is believed by some to be the
first black Baptist in Georgia.
Lester hopes that attendees will be
motivated by what they hear. “I hope they will leave with a new
appreciation for what one man of faith can do if he collaborates
with others united by faith if not by race,” she said.
Lester learned of Liele’s work from her
son, Ben, who was studying for his doctorate. His suggestion of
Liele has resulted in "From Savannah to Jamaica: The Power of
Vision and Voice in the Work of George Liele," a paper the
Lesters presented at the DeBartolo Conference in 18th Century
Studies at the University of South Florida in February 2004, and
"George Liele and the African Baptist Church in 21st Century
Jamaica," which they presented at the Caribbean Studies
Association Conference in St. Kitts in June 2005.
“We researched his letters to the London
Baptists who sponsored his work and examined scholarly articles
and books about him,” Lester said They also visited the church
in Savannah, Ga., that he founded. She hopes to someday travel
to his church in Kingston, Jamaica
This lecture is the seventh event in the
College’s “Year of Africa,” a year-long focus on African
peoples, cultures, geography and history. For more Year of
Africa details, please see the college web site,
www.reinhardt.edu. For more information on the Liele lecture,
please contact Lester at 770-720-5628. |
