A film that tells the story of how African-American people have retained the link with their African past will be shown at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19, in room 302 of Morey Hall on the University of Rochester's River Campus. Produced and directed by Alvaro Toepke and Angel Serrano, The Language You Cry In is described as a breathtaking detective story that recounts how the Gullah people of present-day Georgia trace their roots across hundreds of years and thousands of miles to 18th-century Sierra Leone.
Lorenzo Tucker is an African-American linguist who discovered some Gullah people able to recite texts in African languages, including a very long and detailed song from a fishing community. His findings are used by anthropologists to trace lineage back many generations and discover familial ties.
The Language You Cry In, released in 1998, is part of the spring African Video and Film Series sponsored by the Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies at the University of Rochester. The showing is free and refreshments will be served. For more information, contact the Frederick Douglass Institute at (585) 275-7235.