The question we are sure to get when teachers read our curriculum guide or when visitors go to our Chevron Living Museum is this: slavery is such a sensitive topic; why does a festival need to address that subject?  We were well aware that there might be questioning or even criticism of our addressing the sensitive subject of slavery in the Americas.

There are three reasons we felt compelled to tell the story of the forced migration of Africans to the Americas:

1. First, our theme is “Out of Africa: the three journeys.” In other words, our central subject is concerned with the vast and wide-ranging cultural influences that people of African origin had on every aspect of life in the Americas. To ignore the forced migration and enslavement of Africans is to avoid telling the true story alluded to by the theme.

2. Second, iFest is a not-for-profit organization, which means the IRS views us as an educational organization. Those of you who have studied or use our curriculum guide each year are well aware of this. And those of you who have visited our deeply cultural living museum on site also know this is true. Failure to investigate slavery would be a failure of our educational mission - once again, given our theme.

3. Expanding on the second reason, we’ve asked a stellar committee of African scholars to oversee our written materials and our programming, especially with respect to the living museum on site. I do not believe the scholars would have considered our project worthy of their time and expertise if we had suggested ignoring difficult issues. Those of you who have been fans of iFest already know that we take our educational underpinnings very seriously.

We take it as our job to tell as full story as possible about our theme each year. This may be why iFest has been cited is the most significant cultural celebration for a general public in America.

For a more thorough investigation of our theme, you could go to the book that inspired our curriculum guide and our programming on site: Africans in the Americas, by Michael L. Conniff and Thomas J. Davis.