From L to R: Rev. Angelita Clifton, Trustee Eva G. Carmichael and Min. Deborah L. Stapleton
Rev. Angelita Clifton
Associate Minister, Fountain Baptist Church
Upon entering the Elmina Castle courtyard, my spirit sailed across the sands of time. Black rocks lined the shore like black bodies from long ago transporting the mind’s eye to another place and time. Waves whipped against the shoreline beating my head and heart into the past. Palm trees swayed, heavy with the anguish of my ancestors. The dust of death disturbed by footsteps stole my breath, a reminder that in the age old ash was my ancestry. Soil stained by the savagery of slavery singed my senses burning images I could not fathom. My mind spinning, I walked through dungeon after dungeon on my way to the door of no return. Emotions welled up in my chest like tears in my eyes as I sojourned through the pain. Spellbound and speechless, the castle surrendered my spirit to the sunlight with a prayer in my lips and peace only my God can give. The experience is forever etched on my heart!
Trustee Eva G. Carmichael
After breakfast at the Elmina Beach Resort, we boarded the “Green Hornet” (the name we gave our brightly colored transportation vehicle). Our driver, Frimpong, and our hostess/tour guide, Vivian, were assigned to us compliments of King Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin.
The Green Hornet
We begin every journey with prayer, this morning Rev. Sheila Gipson led us in devotion. The landscape along the way is truly an amazing sight. Thousands of people line the streets selling their goods and products. It is remarkable how the people of Ghana embrace the concept of entrepreneurship.
The first castle we visited was the Elmina Slave Castle. Elmina means gold mine. The castle was built in 1482 by the Portuguese who came to Ghana. It was built for the trade of gold and ivory, and later became the center of the slave trade. The Dutch later captured the castle from the Portuguese and they along with other Europeans continued the slave trade. The British eventually ended slave trading when they arrived and granted the Gold Coast its independence in 1957.
It was here in Ghana that life started and ended for many of our ancestors. As we look into the faces of the Ghanaian people, we see the face of our ancestors who came through this place and never returned. People who were once happy in their homeland before the diaspora. Men and women were captured by the various European groups and warring tribes and sold as slaves for gold and other merchandise. Our tour guide, Kofi, escorted us through the deplorable holding cells and described to us how our ancestors’ journey began. The slaves were herded like cattle into dungeons. The men were branded with hot irons, and the women were raped. Eventually they were forced to enter the “door of no return” and those who survived were dropped off in distant and foreign lands. We ended our tour at the “door of no return.” A floodgate of emotions erupted while Rev. Alyson Browne Johnson prayed. Someone in our group cried out, “Jesus, how could people think of doing such things to others?”
Next, we visited Cape Coast Slave Castle. There, we were met by tour guide, Justice, who provided us with some history of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Of the original 40 slave castles in Africa, 30 of them were in Ghana. The oldest being Elmina. Cape Coast Castle was built specifically for the trading of slaves by Sweden in 1665, who like many others came to Ghana looking for gold. As we gathered in the courtyard, our guide explained how various owners branded their property – the male slaves. We proceeded to the male dungeons consisting of five chambers which housed about 1,000 men at any given time. We approached the dimly lit opening of the male dungeon. The chamber at one end was used to house aggressive males who were willing to fight for their freedom. They were fed through an opening in the ceiling because the conditions at ground level were so deplorable that the soldiers did not want to enter. Along the brick floor, trenches were dug to collect waste which eventually ran into the sea. Slaves ate, slept and eliminated in the same area. Justice said that the floor was once covered with many layers of waste which later took years to remove. He said “you are standing on the blood, sweat, and tears of your ancestors.”
Each chamber held 200 slaves. There was practically no light in the chambers except for the last chamber which was directly connected to the “door of no return.” This chamber had significant lighting which permitted the owners to verify their property before loading it onto the ships.
The female dungeon was similar. The only difference was that females were fewer in number. As I stood in the middle of the female cell, I could feel the despair of those who would rather die than live in those conditions.
We have all seen drawings and pictures of slaves scantily dressed, shackled and chained together. Those images flooded my mind and brought tears to the eyes of many of us. These and other images were brought to life for us as we visited the castles. We felt the pain our ancestors endured and it was overwhelming.
Approximately three million slaves were captured, but only one-third survived. They survived because of God’s grace, and we are eternally grateful.
Min. Deborah L. Stapleton
There is an Adinkra Symbol – Gye Nyame – that means “except God,” which speaks to God’s omnipotence and immortality. As we entered the Elmina Slave Castle this morning, I reflected on the meaning of “Gye Nyame,” but for God my ancestors, your ancestors, our ancestors never would have made it through the Middle Passage. This was not my first visit to the Elmina Slave Castle or to the Cape Coast Slave Castle, and yet the feeling for me remained the same as when I first stepped onto this sacred ground. I fought back tears and tried not to breathe in the stench – the stench was more imagined than real because the smells are long gone, but dungeons for the male slaves and female slaves remain as if still filled with the spirits of our ancestors.
We had to bend over to walk through the narrow doorways into the darkened sections of the dungeons, called rooms where the slaves (three million over the more than 155 years of slavery) were held awaiting the vessels that would take them to lands that we now call home. How could anyone have survived this human holocaust? But God!
At the “Door of No Return” in the Elmina Slave Castle, Rev. Alyson Browne Johnson prayed as the cries of those past and present were heard resounding throughout the darken hallowed ground. The “Door of No Return” at the Cape Coast Slave Castle opened and we walked through. The water has receded, the fishermen have claimed the land, and we stand looking across the Atlantic Ocean. As we turn to enter, Justice tells us to look up to see the sign that says, “The Door of Return.”
“Akwaaba, Welcome!” We are greeted as we re-enter the slave castle with a newness of spirit, commitment, and resolve. This was not a tour or a visit. This was and remains a pilgrimage home.
At the entrance to both slave castles, there is a sign that is not read until the end which reads:
In Everlasting Memory
of the anguish of our ancestors.
May those who died rest in peace.
May those who return find their roots.
May humanity never again perpetrate such injustice against humanity.
We, the living, vow to uphold this.
