Black Sojourn
Elmina Castle & the Audacity of the African Revolution
The decolonization of Africa in the 20th century marked a decisive shift in the history of the human species and of the organization of the modern world. Africa is the historic origin of the human species. Its rich histories and profound cultures are the result of a lineage of people 300,000 years long. 8 years ago I absconded back to the ancestral homeland of my people, present-day Ghana. And this year, my girlfriend and I will be absconding again.
From the shores of present day Ghana was where my ancestors were abducted. In 1482, the Portuguese built Elmina, the first permanent colonial outpost in Gold Coast. Over the next few hundred years, the colonial empires of the Dutch, Danish, Prussians & Swedish followed. The 19th century was marked by the Anglo-Ashanti Wars, which led to the further entrenchment of British hegemony in the Gold Coast. From 1867 to 1957, Gold Coast was a colony of the British empire. The conquest and colonial division of Africa from 1870 to 1900 was followed by an immense emergence among the people of Africa from the 1950s to the 1980s. Over the course of just a few decades, peasants, workers, and landless millions and their allies rose up from the shackles of colonial subjugation in order to forge history in their own image. 43 former colonies and protectorates gained independence from European empires during this period. World War II led to the severe destruction of the nations of Europe, and the African Revolution was a continental-wide decolonization, one in the midst of a wave of worldwide revolution, a “people’s awakening” sweeping the Global South.
On March 6,1957, Ghana (formerly Gold Coast) became the first sub-Saharan African country to gain its independence from Europe in the 20th century. Kwame Nkrumah played a decisive role in African international affairs, helping to establish the Organization of African Unity. The Convention People’s Party pursued a program of governance united around the need for universal healthcare, national jobs programs, and self-determination for the nation of Ghana on issues of energy production, finance, military, and culture. In 1966, Nkrumah travelled abroad with Zhou Enlai of the People’s Republic of China with the goal of ending the imperial war on Vietnam. While in China, Nkrumah’s revolutionary government was destroyed by an alliance between US imperialist powers, reactionary military elites and policing forces and backwards elements of Ghanaian society. Nkrumah would never again return to Ghana, forced to live out his final days in exile in Conakry, Guinea.
The African Revolution entombed the remnants of the European empires of old, charted a path beyond colonial subjugation and placed the peoples of the Global South, triumphs and miseries alike, at the center of the unfolding development of human history. Black Africa set humanity on a fundamentally new historic path. Since the days of my adolescence I had yearned to return to the shores my ancestors were abducted from.
It was December 17th, 2018 when I returned to those very shores. We woke up early around 4:30am to catch the first tro-tro en route to Cape Coast from Accra. The tro-tro is very affordable, usually very packed, and very reliable. Going to the Cape Coast castle was something I both had been awaiting and dreading during my visit. I knew it was going to open up a well of feelings I might not have been ready to wrestle with. But, we have arrived.
Cape Coast is its own town, and people move at a different pace. It felt like a small coastal town, and people were selling different items: paintings, beads, bracelets. This was clearly a tourist stop. We did not come here to be amused, we came here to return to the shores our ancestors were forced to leave behind. The castle now houses small shops, markets, and, of course, the tour business itself. We paid 90 cedi and joined the tour in progress. The group was a mix of young people, Ghanaians, and a white couple. The first stop on the tour was the male slave dungeon. Horrific and disturbing details were shared by the tour guide. We moved further in to discover that a church was built by the slavers right on top of the dungeon. European sadists praised the Lord in a language alien and grotesque to the enslaved Africans below. We moved to a room with a shrine, one that existed well before colonization and enslavement. The third section led us back to the coast.
By this point, I couldn’t hide my contempt for this tour. The tour guide was clearly an apologist for colonialism, and out of a group of 15 people, only ever spoke directly to the white people on the tour. People in our tour group were taking selfies and group photos, as if emerging out of the dungeons below after having been there for 15 minutes was a cause for celebration. Various colonizers are buried right along the coast, all of whom abetted the horror. Upon leaving the coast, we made our way to the “female slave dungeon” where the tour guide implored the women to enter first. It was at that moment that I realized I wanted to attack him and the white man smiling at the sight of Black women entering this dungeon. I wanted to attack them both with my bare hands. I had a better idea though and decided to leave the group and head back to the coast. The wall overlooking the water below was lined with rusted British cannons. Below, waves crashed against the rocky jagged shore.
I wept.
My ancestors were stolen, abducted from these shores. And this is how the people on this tour treat this historic horror? We did not come to be amused, we came here to return to the shores our ancestors were forced to leave behind.
I wept.
The whole imperial world is a monstrous beast that must be conquered. Its devastation claws across time, ripping and gnashing at the righteous children of Africa. What level of wickedness does it take to look this historic horror head on and make light of it?
I wept.
I reached a point where I ran out of tears. And I tried to focus my attention on the horizon. I soon found myself attended for by my people. “They are because you are.” I realize that the circle is now complete. For half a millennium, my ancestors have been calling for me to return, and God has made a way for me to do so. I don’t know the contours of my contribution to Black freedom, but I know it arises out of the deep wells of Black joy and Black pain. I will avenge the suffering of my ancestors and find my way forward because of it.
As we left the town, I kept these thoughts with me. We decided to go to a nearby canopy walk, look out over miles of trees and catch a great breeze on our journey up and down the skyline slopes. It was a decent attention out, but the coast is unforgettable for all of the right and wrong reasons. For as long as I have memory, nerve, and instinct, I shall never forget the sound of those waves, the texture of those dungeon walls, the unspeakable horrors. But I must also keep in mind that despair must not have the last word. There is always joy in the mourning.
I am grateful for everything my ancestors had to do to survive and grateful to God Almighty for granting grace. And I am grateful for the gift of absconsion.