Through One Child's Eyes: Medical Missionaries in Nigeria in the 1960s

Monday, January 25, 2016 (All day) to Friday, April 1, 2016 (All day)
Image of Nigeria map and Pitman family photo
Through a selected display of archival images, documents and locally purchased decorative arts and crafts, this exhibition focuses on the medical work and daily life of Dr. Gene and Mrs. Ann Pitman, and the impact the experience of living in Nigeria had on their young daughters. Contextualization of the Pitman collection draws attention to a critical period during the emergence of modern Africa, where religion, transculturation, western medicine and global politics converge through the lens of the personal experience of the Pitman family. Guest curated by Bianca Finley Alper, visual resource specialist, with curatorial advisers Professors Trevor Getz and Edward Luby. Gallery hours: Mondays - Fridays, 1 - 5pm. Discussion and reception: February 2, 4:30 - 7:30pm. Free.
Location: 
J. Paul Leonard Library, Special Collections Gallery
Contact: 
J. Paul Leonard Library
Event extras: 

In summer 1961, Texas physician, Gerald Gene Pitman, moved his wife and three young daughters from Waco, Texas, to West Africa. Under the auspices of the Foreign Mission Board, Pitman worked as a Baptist medical missionary conducting life-saving surgery and providing general medical care for local communities at Baptist hospitals established in Nigeria. In 1967, when escalating regional conflict made it unsafe to remain in the area, the Pitman family returned to the United States, unaware that their time in Africa had come to a close.

This exhibit is made possible by the College of Liberal & Creative Arts, Museum Studies Program, History Department, J. Paul Leonard Library, an anonymous donor and SF State Foundation Board member and University benefactor Laurie Pitman.

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