Jean-Robert Cadet, world-renowned abolitionist and former child slave, will visit the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to give a talk titled “From Child Slave to Abolitionist” at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 3, at the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the Fine Arts Building.

The presentation is free and open to the public.

Cadet’s books, “Restavec: From Haitian Slave to Middle-Class American” and “My Stone of Hope: From Haitian Slave Child to Abolitionist,” chronicle his life as a child slave in Haiti, known as a restavek.

Both books will be available for purchase and a book-signing session will follow the lecture.

“Cadet grew up without parents and without love, and the story is so difficult,” said Suzanne Homsley, a graduate student enrolled in Dr. Laura Barrio-Vilar’s course Slavery Narratives. The class read one of Cadet’s books this semester.

“[Restavek] will definitely leave the reader full of many emotions,” said Homsley.

“I believe the event will really bring the book to life for us and actually put a living face to slavery. This can only help us all become more cognizant and active in regards to social injustice,” she said.

 Cadet’s visit is sponsored by UALR’s William G. Cooper Jr. Honors Program in English in conjunction with the UALR Institute on Race and Ethnicity.

Information on the Jean R. Cadet Restavek Organizaiton, which advocates the end of child slavery, is available at http://www.jeanrcadet.org/.

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