Obamas at Cape Coast Castle
Posted by Carolan Gladden at 7/14/2009 8:40 PM 
Categories: Places, Black and White, Experiences, Africa
Categories: Places, Black and White, Experiences, Africa
It was amazing to see the Obamas not only in Ghana, West Africa, but to have bypassed the hot barren Freedom Square plaza in the capital Accra to journey along the Atlantic coast and experience for themselves an infamous "slave castle." Built in the 17th century by the Portuguese as a "warehouse" and "shipping point" in the Transatlantic slave trade, Barack's short speech seemed to reveal a profound emotional effect.
Yes, I know that unsettled feeling you get as you take small steps down, down, down into an icy dungeon -- and the horror of 16 ancient cannons sighted on the sea below -- as I was there in 2004.
The CNN tv crew got exactly this shot -- the quaint church just across the street from Cape Coast Castle.
Kumasi
No, these unsuspecting souls had no idea of the truth, could not imagine their fate, until they were herded straight into dark, dank dungeons: one labeled "Male," one "Female."
Ona bright hot afternoon I walked with the group down a steep ramp into the bowels of this dungeon. As I stepped onto the floor it felt soft, squishy and we were told it was that way from the long-ago accumulationof human epidermis. I couldn't help it, tears began to well up. And then I could barely see, especially as only a sliver of light -- or air -- could penetrate from a small barred opening high up one wall. And as I stood with my back against the brick it felt ice cold.
And then we were told that the soon-to-be-slaves never again saw the light of day as they were forced through underground tunnels straight belowdecks on ships ready for the horrendous middle passage. (The slave trade was an evil part of a three-way economic system: 1. Goods brought from Europe and traded in Africa. 2. African humans taken to the Caribbean, to South America (particularly Brazil as it was the Portugeuese who began major slave trading and colonized Brazil) and eventually in smaller numbers to North America, where they were traded for cash or goods. 3. Goods from the Americas and the Caribbean traded in Europe.)
And imagine, round and round the triangle it went from 1540well into the 1800's!
Tearfully,
Carolan
Yes, I know that unsettled feeling you get as you take small steps down, down, down into an icy dungeon -- and the horror of 16 ancient cannons sighted on the sea below -- as I was there in 2004.
No, these unsuspecting souls had no idea of the truth, could not imagine their fate, until they were herded straight into dark, dank dungeons: one labeled "Male," one "Female."Ona bright hot afternoon I walked with the group down a steep ramp into the bowels of this dungeon. As I stepped onto the floor it felt soft, squishy and we were told it was that way from the long-ago accumulationof human epidermis. I couldn't help it, tears began to well up. And then I could barely see, especially as only a sliver of light -- or air -- could penetrate from a small barred opening high up one wall. And as I stood with my back against the brick it felt ice cold.
And then we were told that the soon-to-be-slaves never again saw the light of day as they were forced through underground tunnels straight belowdecks on ships ready for the horrendous middle passage. (The slave trade was an evil part of a three-way economic system: 1. Goods brought from Europe and traded in Africa. 2. African humans taken to the Caribbean, to South America (particularly Brazil as it was the Portugeuese who began major slave trading and colonized Brazil) and eventually in smaller numbers to North America, where they were traded for cash or goods. 3. Goods from the Americas and the Caribbean traded in Europe.)
And imagine, round and round the triangle it went from 1540well into the 1800's!
Tearfully,
Carolan
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