between blacks and whites when historian Dr. Jeffery Bolster delivers a lecture at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute tonight.

Dr. Bolster is a prize-winning historian and a Professor of History at the University of New Hampshire, US.

Dr. Bolster's illustrated slide lecture will be based on his award-winning book: "Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail,'' and he will explore the role of black sailors in the formation of the Atlantic world.

From the early 1600s until the American Civil War abolished slavery, black seamen were central to the economic survival, liberation struggle and identity formation of black people throughout the Americas.

Drawing on a wide range of archival material and historical artwork, Professor Bolster tells the little known but epic tale of black seafaring in the age of sail.

Professor Bolster lectures frequently throughout the US and is a consultant at several major museums.

He has also contributed to and appeared in numerous television programmes, such as the PBS series, "Columbus and the Age of Discovery'' and Discovery TV's "Slave Ship''.

The lecture will take place tonight and Friday night at the Tradewinds Auditorium at BUEI, members $7.50, non-members, $10.

Doors open at 6.30 p.m. and the lecture will start at 7 p.m.

MUSEUM MUS