From reading this novel I have found that William Henry Sheppard was the first black American missionary in the Congo. When I first started this novel I didn't think that a black man would have been able to walk free in the lands of Africa. So once I learned that he not only was free of the prison of slavery but also was able to visit different villages and share the word of his lord I was amazed.
Sheppard is a rather unique man with a wide variety of occupations throughout his lifetime. To begin with he not only had some schooling but also finished college. The Congo is where he grew his real fame. He spent many years there leading or co-leading expeditions and interacting with the locals. While there he learned the language of the people; he was the first to do so. After visiting the Congo he returned to his life of ministry and was praised by both black and white followers of the faith. It seems odd that his man has celebrated many different experiences when other men the same color as he were being treated like animals.
Though I find everything Sheppard to be remarkable I wish that he didn't have to experience the Congo. If there was an instance in time where he didn't have to visit that would also have been a time of no murder and slavery in the Congo. However, we are not in a perfect world and I find it horrifying that today a hundred years after this story of holocaust and butchery that we Americans are still participating in similar acts.
1 comment:
I think maybe visiting the Congo could have been freeing too. He would have garnered more respect abroad than at home. In Africa he was an educated black and in the eyes of Europeans more refined than true Africans.
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