Journal Entry 43: Reliving History--Again

The extremely small "Door of No Return"

Me, my mom and cousin took a long three hour drive to see the Elmina Slave Castle the day before they left. As I expected, people started hounding us as soon we got out the car trying to sell us their goods. We were fortunate enough to receive our own private tour of the castle, allowing us to take as much time as we needed to internalize what we were seeing.

The balcony used to gather the female slaves...

The Portuguese Church (now a shop)

The story that was told was similar to what I learned at the other slave castle. The thing that got to me the most was the stench that filled the air when you entered the cell, as if you could still smell the injustice that occurred. The stench seemed much stronger at this slave castle. Another difference I immediately noticed with this slave castle is how extremely small the "Door of No Return" is. In fact, I didn't even recognize it as a door. The tour guide then pointed to a balcony, with me doubting its significance. He said, “This is the balcony the governor would use when he wanted to have one of the female slaves. He would order them to come outside and line up, and then he would choose which one he wanted to sleep with”. The guide then spoke about how some Ghanaians wound up with European last names because they were the offspring of this painful experience (as some of the children were left in Ghana). He also explained that many of those offspring began to believe that they were superior to their counterparts because of their European heritage, a concept that hasn't yet died. He continued, “and here” he pointed to a small white building, “here is the Portuguese church that was right between the slave cells". I could never seem to wrap my head around the fact that there were actually people conducting church services and using their religion to justify what they were doing. 

Visiting the slave castles is always a great reminder of how far we've come, but an even better reminder of how far we have to go.