Joe Opala

Adjunct history professor brings fresh ideas to the forefront, shakes up world view of American histrony for many students

Rachelle Lacroix / photo editor

How often is a JMU professor interviewed by "60 Minutes II," CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times?

Joseph A. Opala, adjunct professor in the history department, is an anthropologist and producer of two award-winning film documentaries on West Africa. His impressive depth of knowledge nearly was matched by his appearance and intelligent yet casual demeanor as he described his work.

Between about 1690 and 1835, many Gullah slaves, a distinctive group of African-Americans from the sea islands and coastal plain of Charleston, S.C. and Georgia, fled south into the Florida wilderness. Setting up their own independent villages, these "Black Seminoles" established an "African frontier" in Florida, Opala said.

But when American settlers began moving into the area, a full-scale war resulted between 1835 and 1842, the greatest slave rebellion in the annals of American history, according to Opala. The Seminole Indians and Black Seminoles were allies against the Americans. Eventually, they fought the U.S. Army to a standstill and instead of surrendering or being captured, won the right to migrate to the unsettled Western frontier — which is now Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma native raised his eyebrows to emphasize an interesting offshoot of the Gullah people who escaped from the rice plantations.

"Amazingly, older Black Seminole descendants in small communities in Oklahoma, Texas and Mexico still speak Gullah today — 250 years after their ancestors escaped from the Carolina rice plantations," Opala said.

"The Black Seminoles fought side by side, died, bled — for those lands in Florida," Opala said on "60 Minutes II." "They've been together with the Seminole Indians; they've been good brothers and good neighbors for three centuries."

Joanne Gabbin, director of the Honors Program, said she has asked Opala to teach several courses for the Honors Program because of his wide knowledge in African studies and the Gullah culture.
"He has done some original research in the field and his films about the 'Gullah Connection' are ground breaking," Gabbin said.

Over the years, Opala has explored the historical links between the Gullah people of South Carolina and Georgia, the Black Seminoles in Florida, Oklahoma, Alabama and Texas and the people of the "Rice Coast" of West Africa, especially those in Sierra Leone, where he lived for 17 years and taught for six. He has studied their history of migration across two continents and over 250 years by using history, linguistics, anthropology and archaeology.

"As soon as I became aware of their extraordinary history … and realized how much it was swept under the carpet, I asked myself 'How come everybody doesn't know about the Black Seminoles?'" Opala said.

Because of their unusual history, geographical isolation and strong community life, the Gullah — have preserved more of their African language and cultural heritage than any other black community in the United States. Since the 1960s, interest in this unique community has grown, and the Gullah have become the subject of a surprisingly wide range of films, including two produced by Opala.

Opala was an integral part in producing "The Language You Cry In," which was featured on PBS in 1998. Based on the reunion of a Georgia family with their African relatives, it tells an amazing story spanning hundreds of years and thousands of miles from 18th-century Sierra Leone to the Gullah people of present-day Georgia.

Why are these issues and people important today? Opala said one reason is because " … the story of the Gullahs and Black Seminoles will ultimately change all our perceptions of American history.
"What I am arguing is that the role of Sierra Leone, in particular, in the South Carolina slave trade was much greater than historians have realized," Opala said.

Opala has been cited in several national media for his expertise. He appeared on the CBS News program "60 Minutes II" July 10, when he was featured as a primary source on the Black Seminoles in a story about a conflict within the Oklahoma Seminole tribe.

Opala's work also has been mentioned in The New York Times and The Washington Post. He was cited in an editorial on the Black Seminoles for the April 21 edition of The Times and published a piece called "What the West Failed to See in Sierra Leone" in The Post's May 14, 2000 issue. CNN also has tapped Opala for interviews in the past, and his research is the basis of two documentary films, "The Language You Cry In" (1998) and "Family Across the Sea" (1991).

In a story about the modern descendants of James Madison's slaves that appeared in the Spring 2001 edition of Montpelier, Opala said, "… The voices of African-Americans can alter the way we view American history. Black people have played such a powerful role in our national drama, in fact, that deleting their voices can only ensure that we distort history."

In his third year at JMU, Opala has spoken on campus many times. His most recent lecture, part of the Honors Program Symposium on Oct. 7, was titled "Seeking Justice: The Example of Sierra Leone."

Opala and his students will visit the U.S. Park Service Dec. 5 to present a plan for a historic trail that links together a number of West African, Gullah and Black Seminole historic sites. For five semesters, students in his classes have worked on a 125-page document that connects the Gullah people with several American states and other countries.

"I've been trying to shake up the students' historical world view, get them to see that there is another way of looking at American history, but also get them involved in something that will actually make things happen," Opala said. "If there's any one thing I'd like my students to understand it's that we're all really just the same — Americans from all backgrounds and ethnic groups have made profound contributions to our history."

When a civil war reached Sierra Leone's capital city, Opala had to flee the country in the middle of the night — on a fishing boat — one step ahead of the military coup leading the exile.

Randy Jones, a book editor of the Center for American Places in downtown Harrisonburg, said he "was just mesmerized by [Opala's] stories — both his professional story of research and scholarship as well as his personal story, especially his years spent in Sierra Leone investigating the slave trade." Jones said he looked forward to bringing one of Opala's numerous book ideas to fruition in the future.

The laid back, easy-going history professor said he's at a crossroads between staying in the United States and returning to his second home in West Africa, especially now that Sierra Leone is once again at peace. "My heart wants me to go back, but this year is the first year I've really felt back at home here in the United States (after five years)," Opala said.

"I am grateful for my experience with the Gullah that has largely been made possible by Joe Opala. I am excited to see where his work will take him and where he will take his work, in the future," senior Cristen Crabtree said.

Other students agreed, saying they had benefited from his knowledge.

"An in-depth analysis on a certain region, in this case an extremely important region in today's world, is very rewarding in understanding so many things about the world," junior Amir Allak said. "It is tough to find someone like him, so rich with worldly knowledge that very few professors have."