Escaped Sudanese Slave to Deliver Call to Action at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – Escaped Sudanese slave Francis Bok will speak at the College of the Holy Cross on Wednesday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center, room 401. The event is free and open to the public.

Bok will speak about the horrors of slavery from his personal experience. In 1986, when he was just seven years old, he was abducted during a violent slave raid on his village in southern Sudan. For ten years, he endured the life of a slave, sleeping outside with cattle, eating rotten food, and being subjected to daily beatings.

Since his escape, he has dedicated his life to speaking on behalf of those who are still in bondage. "What good is my freedom if my brothers and sisters around the world are still not free?" he says.

Bok has spoken out against slavery at college campuses across the country. He has been profiled on the front page of The Wall Street Journal and was featured on NPR's "Morning Edition." In 2001, he carried the Winter Olympic Torch on its national relay tour - and in 2002, he was invited to the White House for the Sudan Peace Act signing ceremony.

While most Americans believe that slavery ended in 1865, the reality is that an estimated 27 million people worldwide are still enslaved today - more than at any other point in history. Modern-day slavery is defined as "forced labor without pay under the threat of violence." Contemporary slavery includes debt bondage, chattel, and sex slavery.

This lecture is sponsored by Amnesty International, the Black Student Union, the Model U.N. and the College's Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.