Francis Bok

Who is Francis Bok?

Francis Piol Bol Bok, a Dinka tribesman and native of South Sudan, was a slave for ten years but is now an abolitionist and author living in the United States. On May 15, 1986, he was captured and enslaved at the age of seven during an Arab militia raid on the village of Nyamlel in South Sudan during the Second Sudanese Civil War. Bok lived in bondage for ten years before escaping imprisonment in Kurdufan, Sudan, followed by a journey to the United States by way of Cairo, Egypt.

Bok was aided by people of diverse cultures and faiths in his journey to freedom. His earliest steps towards the United States were helped by a Northern Sudanese Muslim family that believed that slavery was wrong and provided him a bus ticket to Khartoum. Upon arriving in Khartoum, Bok was aided by a fellow Dinka tribesman and members of the Fur people, and his trip to the United States was paid for by members of the Lutheran church. His first point of contact in the United States was a refugee from Somalia who helped him get settled in Fargo, North Dakota.

Bok has testified before the United States Senate and met with George W. Bush, Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice, telling them his story of slavery. He has been honored by the United States Olympic Committee, the Boston Celtics and colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada. Francis now lives in the U.S. state of Kansas, where he works for the American Anti-Slavery Group and Sudan Sunrise, an organization that works for peace in Sudan. Bok's autobiography, Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity and My Journey to Freedom in America, published by St. Martin's Press, chronicles his life, from his early youth, his years in captivity, to his work in the United States as an abolitionist.