The plot centers on students involved in the Soweto Riots, in opposition to the implementation of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in schools. The stage version presents a school uprising similar to the Soweto uprising on June 16, 1976. A narrator introduces several characters among them the school girl activist Sarafina. Things get out of control when a policeman shoots several pupils in a classroom. Nevertheless, the musical ends with a cheerful farewell show of pupils leaving school, which takes most of act two. In the movie version Sarafina feels shame at her mother's (played by Miriam Makeba in the film) acceptance of her role as domestic servant in a white household in apartheid South Africa, and inspires her peers to rise up in protest, especially after her inspirational teacher, Mary Masombuka (played by Whoopi Goldberg in the film version) is imprisoned.

Kunta Kinteh Island

2012

English

7.1

♡ 2

Elvin Ross Director

Tish Graves-Dawkins as Ms. Bryant

Brian Waller as School Principal

This documentary film chronicles the process of renaming Ft. James Island, which was a holding cell for slaves during the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade, to Kunta Kinteh Island- after one of The Gambia's most well-renowned sons. It shares the points of view of both the government and the Kinteh family, who still preserve their history as residents of neighboring Juffureh Island. This film embodies the rich spirit of a people that can be passed on throughout the diaspora for decades to come.