Sankofa II: Visting my Ancestors – The Door of My Return

This weekend I took the most coveted pilgrimage a child of the diaspora can take. I journeyed to the Cape Coast and Elmina Castles where African slaves were ‘stored’ as trading goods before being shipped off to the Caribbean, Brazil, Portugal, France and the U.K.

It will take a more prolific writer to extract emotions into words. But here it goes.

Once you walk through the Castles as you, you walk out a different person with a different knowledge and perspective. I was left in a state of ponder, confusion, resentment towards the inequity between our races because I saw where it all began and taking my steps towards total understanding of my present day and forgiveness.

Our tour guide, Isaac, took us through the history of the trade. The first European settlers/invaders who negotiated with local Chiefs to build the Cape Coast Castle were buried on the site. The structure is still well preserved with possibly new wood where the old ones have rotted. I touched the walls where our ancestors leaned upon, bled or shed tears upon. We stood above the underground tunnel where slaves, chained at their feet, hands and necks traveled to the door of no return.

There were male and female dungeons and detention dungeons for each. Church was held on top of the dungeons while slaves cried out for freedom as the Pastors sang and preached.

Men who fought back or attempted escape were crammed into a dungeon with no food, water or light to die. They walk in the cells but are always dragged out dead. Men would be dead for days before they take the body away while others struggle to survive but never do.

 

Women who refused sex were placed into a detention cell as well. Those women who were selected would be taken up to the Governor’s chambers. If she became pregnant she could stay in town (Cape Coast) and the child would attend school as a semi-privileged ‘mulatto’. Some of these schools are now the best in the nation. Women who became pregnant on the ships were however thrown overboard. Every act of the human body was done in the dungeons and cells, so use your imagination to picture the conditions that were endured. The ships were no different. The smell of the rotting fish and sewerage in ways brought the experience alive.

When Isaac, our tour guide opened the tall exit doors, the sun shone brightly, the birds sang and you hear the chatter of all the fishermen and vendors on the coastal line. You see the open waters and the horizon and I simply exhaled. The amazing part of the journey is that the Door of No Return was, years ago, renamed the Door of Return. We all walked back through that door. Sankofa!

The journey continued through pictures and artifacts in the museum. You travel from the Portuguese and Dutch settlers, to the local Chiefs who also sold Africans, to the slave revolts globally, to emancipation, civil rights movements, independence and our modern day fight for development. You saw the heroes of the movement, Harriet Tubman, Kwame Nkrumah, Frederick Douglas, and European Abolitionist. We are enjoying the ripe fruits of their labour like sweet mango dripping down our elbows and chins.

Elmina Castle is big and complex with many passageways. Detention cells for both men and women are also there. The female dungeons had a small entry in the wall for air where gunpowder and ammunition was stored, they inhaled lots of these chemicals.

 

 

 

Imagine this, the first Church in Ghana was built there, which then became a trading hall for human commodity. Gold dust and other items of value were the first trading goods on both coasts but it eventually turned into human commodity given the high value of slave labour. The community is now a major fishing district.

 

With Love from Ghana

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• Remembering the Men and Women