Starting at the age of 8, Manute fled from his home numerous times to escape the different rituals Jieng boys were expected to endure to become Jieng men. This label, given to Manute, would shape how the world would treat him for years to come (Frahm, 2012). Manute was labelled a Christian Muonjang, meaning he was a minority in his own country. During this ‘peaceful’ period, the racial and religious tensions that contributed to the civil unrest remained high (Sharkey, 2007). The Addis Ababa Agreement signed in 1972 ended the war, and the fighting halted for just over a decade, until the start of the Second Sudanese civil war in 1983. As a result, the country was unofficially broken down into three main regions, the Arab and Muslim north, the Black and Muslim west, and the Black and Christian and animist south, all of which were engaged in the First Sudanese Civil War from 1955 to 1972. From the late 19 th to mid-20 th century, British invaders grouped Arabs in the north, and Black Sudanese together in the south and west. Growing up, Manute was accustomed to taking up the space of Otherness (Szto, 2020b), but not because of his height in fact, the Jieng are one of the tallest collectives in the entire world. ![]() His name, which means ‘ Special blessing,’ was one commonly given to Jieng born following the death of a sibling, or a miscarriage, as was the case with Manute. The Jieng are a Nilotic ethnic group native to southern Sudan. The Jieng are often referred to as ‘Dinka’ by non-tribe members. Although there is no official record of his birth, Manute was thought to have been born in the 1960s to the Muonjang (singular) or Jieng (plural) people of Turalei, Sudan. To understand Manute, one must go backwards first. However, to speak of Manute without the acknowledgment that the reach of his activism and advocacy was much longer than that of his 8-foot-6 wingspan, is to not speak of him at all. In every sense of the word, Manute was a tall basketball player, and his story has often been told as such. Manute’s stature precedes him at his tallest, his frame unfolded to a lanky 7-foot-7. The story of the late Manute Bol typically begins, and ends, with his height. ![]() ![]() But he also gave me a heart so I would look back. God guided me to America and gave me a good job. Manute Bol speaking at a Save Darfur rally.
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