I wrote this essay as part of my home school.
My family is in GHANA because my dad worked seven years so he got a sabbatical and he chose Cape Coast. We arrived in Accra on the 22nd of August 2013.
Cape Coast is famous for its slave castle, and our whole family knew we were eventually going to go there. But before the day of the tour, we were constantly driving by the castle, and on the Fante Christmas, we had walked around the castle.
After a few months we finally went inside the castle, and when we did, it smelled weird, looked very white and big and it was made of cement.
The Cape Coast castle was the biggest of all the castles in West Africa but not the oldest, which is the Elmina castle (1481). The Cape Coast castle was built by the Swedes 1653.They built it as a fort, not a slave castle. The Dutch occupied it between 1663-1664, then there was a war, and the British took over and converted it into a slave castle in 1665. They used it to store slaves and gold so that they could trade with the locals. They sent the slaves by ship to the following places: Brazil, North America, and Europe.
One of the sad parts was that the British put a church on top of the male dungeon. I thought it was sad because the slaves were down in the dungeon and could hear songs and worship going on above them. They also had a room of no return where they would put slaves, who tried to escape, with no food, water, or fresh air, and were left to die in a room closed in by three doors. There was also a door of no return, where the slaves would walk through to board the ships and never come back.
These are some happy things. A few years ago some African-Americans, who were descendants of slaves, were invited to the castle, to put a sign on the other side of the “Door of No Return” that says “Door of Return”. I was happy when the guide said they finally got freedom.
Now no one wants that to happen again. So I’m determined not to let it happen again. I also think that child/human trafficking should stop because it is similar to slavery.
My family is in GHANA because my dad worked seven years so he got a sabbatical and he chose Cape Coast. We arrived in Accra on the 22nd of August 2013.
Cape Coast is famous for its slave castle, and our whole family knew we were eventually going to go there. But before the day of the tour, we were constantly driving by the castle, and on the Fante Christmas, we had walked around the castle.
After a few months we finally went inside the castle, and when we did, it smelled weird, looked very white and big and it was made of cement.
The Cape Coast castle was the biggest of all the castles in West Africa but not the oldest, which is the Elmina castle (1481). The Cape Coast castle was built by the Swedes 1653.They built it as a fort, not a slave castle. The Dutch occupied it between 1663-1664, then there was a war, and the British took over and converted it into a slave castle in 1665. They used it to store slaves and gold so that they could trade with the locals. They sent the slaves by ship to the following places: Brazil, North America, and Europe.
One of the sad parts was that the British put a church on top of the male dungeon. I thought it was sad because the slaves were down in the dungeon and could hear songs and worship going on above them. They also had a room of no return where they would put slaves, who tried to escape, with no food, water, or fresh air, and were left to die in a room closed in by three doors. There was also a door of no return, where the slaves would walk through to board the ships and never come back.
These are some happy things. A few years ago some African-Americans, who were descendants of slaves, were invited to the castle, to put a sign on the other side of the “Door of No Return” that says “Door of Return”. I was happy when the guide said they finally got freedom.
Now no one wants that to happen again. So I’m determined not to let it happen again. I also think that child/human trafficking should stop because it is similar to slavery.
great work rock! what a great experience that was to actually walk where they walked and learn of some of the ugly truths of the past. miss you!!
ReplyDeleteYou are having some very excellent experiences and learning some very important lessons. Thank you for sharing them with us. I appreciate your resolve to make sure this never happens again.
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