Ghana’s first post-colonial President, Kwame Nkrumah, pictured.
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“For centuries, Africans walked through the infamous “door of no return” at Cape Coast castle directly into slave ships, never to set foot in their homelands again. These days, the portal of this massive fort so central to one of history’s greatest crimes has a new name, hung on a sign leading back in from the roaring Atlantic Ocean: “The door of return.”
“Ghana, through whose ports millions of Africans passed on their way to plantations in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, wants its descendants to come back. Taking Israel as its model, Ghana hopes to persuade the descendants of enslaved Africans to think of Africa as their homeland - to visit, invest, send their children to be educated and even retire here.”
To encourage still more to come, or at least visit, Ghana plans to offer a special lifetime visa for members of the diaspora and will relax citizenship requirements so that descendants of slaves can receive Ghanaian passports. The government is also starting an advertising campaign to persuade Ghanaians to treat African-Americans more like long-lost relatives than as rich tourists. That is harder than it sounds.
TheStateOf. . .Ghana. I traveled alone to Ghana in 2000 and I must say that the entire trip was special. It is a *must see* for all African Americans. Do not let your life pass by without visiting Ghana. I would love to retire there. Everywhere I went, people were extraordinarily friendly and welcoming. Most days, I would stroll the shopping districts, museums and restaurants, talking with strangers and absorbing Ghanaian culture. I learned a tremendous amount of Ghanaian and pan-African history. Certainly, as the descendant of slaves, the most moving portion of my trip was my visit to Elmina Castle, a massive slave fortress along the coast. Words cannot describe the hell that must have occurred there. For a great read on the African role in the slave trade, check out my friend (and Spelman College professor) Anne C. Bailey’s book, African Voices of the Atlantic Slave Trade.
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