This week was highlighted by a great trip to Cape Coast,
another large city about 4 hours from Accra along the coast. However this post is not about the excitement of Cape Coast and is much darker than usual. Please do read on. Cape Coast is a
historic fishing village that is most known for its British fort. Well… British
Slave Castle. Most everybody is taught throughout school about slavery in the
U.S. and around the world. Unfortunately
there are no longer many historic sites in the states to remind us of our grim
past. You can go visit some old plantations or to the battlefield at Gettysburg
but neither give you a very good idea about the human suffering that took
place. Most American children, including myself, have learned everything they
know about slavery from a book. But this only serves to teach us facts; it will
never help us empathize with the pain and suffering of millions of African
people. Thus I felt it was quite important while in Ghana to visit the slave
castle. We visited both the Elmina and Cape Coast castles.
These
castles were originally built to protect European trading ports but once the
slave trade began they were converted to house several thousand slaves at a
time. The tour begins when you enter the main dungeons. These were large rooms,
maybe 50 x 100 ft with stone walls and dirt floors. If they were lucky they had
a small window about 2 x 2 ft that let in enough light to see the silhouettes of people
around you but not much else. The male and female slaves were kept separated in
these chambers for 3 months at a time until the next ship arrived. Many slaves
went blind due to the extreme lack of light. The chambers did not contain any
sort of drainage system so the slaves would live, eat and sleep in their own
waste. Many caught diseases due to this and died slowly. They were given large
bowls of food twice a day but there was not enough for all, so the strong would
eat and the weak would starve. Ironically the English church was located just
on top of the male chamber in Cape Coast Castle, where every Sunday they would
pray as African men suffered below. For those slaves that tried to escape or
cause trouble, a separate chamber was allocated. This chamber was only about
10x10 ft with no windows or ventilation. If a slave entered the chamber he did
not come out alive. When you visit they allow you to enter the chamber and then
close the door behind you. It is completely dark, quite hot and I don’t think I
would last 1 hour in there. We next moved to the female chambers. These were
much the same as the male chambers except that they were located next to a
courtyard beneath the governor’s balcony. Every once in a while the women would
be forced to stand in this courtyard while the governor looked on and chose one
to be his mistress. This happened quite often, and the soldiers themselves
often raped the women. Those who wouldn’t comply were sent to a punishment
chamber for weeks.
After
the three months, the slaves were chained together and led down a passageway to
board the ships. When they reached the edge of the castle, they passed through
the Door of No Return, a small passageway that they would shuffle through with
their hands and ankles bound. Many slaves never made it to this point at all. For those who did they would be taken out to a
large ship where the conditions were even worse and many more would die from
disease and starvation on the long trip to Europe or the U.S. Although the
castle from the outside is very impressive and the views from the towers or the
ocean are beautiful, it is quite grim to think of the immense suffering that
took place at these sites. They are the most realistic castles you will ever
see; they still have all the old canons and cannon balls. If you travel to
Africa, please take advantage of the opportunity to visit these castles. For to
many people the memory is long faded. In the meantime google some images to get
a better understanding. We took some pictures secretly (as they unfortunately
charge you for use of a camera) but I don’t have pictures of everything.
 |
| This sign was placed in both castles by the local people after slavery was ended. Words to live by. |
