By Allison Hamburger

An adopted woman whose search for her roots led her to discover that she is a princess of a West African village will speak at the annual African-American History Assembly on Tuesday.

Dean Tamar Adegbile, the faculty advisor for Black Leadership and Culture Club, asked Sarah Culberson to speak at the assembly after learning about her story.

Each year, the BLACC chooses “someone who will represent the African-Americans, but more so that they will say something that the entire school community would be interested in hearing,” Adegbile said.

Culberson was born in West Virginia and was adopted as an infant.

In 2004, she discovered that her biological father lived in Bumpe, a village in Sierra Leone.

She also learned that she is a member of the village’s royal Malahoi family.

Culberson later wrote the book “A Princess Found” with co-author Tracy Trivas.

In the book she discusses the experience of finding out about her heritage.

Culberson also co-founded the Kposowa Foundation in 2005 to improve living conditions for the people affected by the 11-year civil war in Sierra Leone.

This included rebuilding Bumpe High School, which was destroyed during the war.

The war left thousands of Sierra Leoneans killed and resulted in the destruction of the school.

She has also acted in television shows such as “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” “Boston Legal” and “All of Us,” as well as in the film “American Dreamz.”

She is also a guest dancer for the Afro-Cuban salsa dance company Contra-Tiempo.

The assembly will take place between fourth and fifth periods on Feb. 16.