Africa's Dark Past
Home Page
The Gambia
The People
Faces of West Africa
Senegal
Ngor Island
Our Paradise Island
The Pink Lake
Culture and Arts
Kachikally Museum
Art and Crafts
The Markets
Africa's Dark Past
Goree Island
Juffureh Village
James Island
Contact Us
Guestbook
Goree Island, James Island, and Juffureh - The Slaves' Journey
I wasn't even sure what to call this section. I kept putting off writing this part over and over again because it’s the hardest part to write about, the hardest part to see. So many emotions swept through me when I visited these two places and thought about the history that exists here. I felt sad, disheartened, sometimes there was an ache in my chest. I felt anger and rage at the atrocities that existed, and love for the people who lived and died through it. And then there is the realization that if not for what these people (and others like them) went through, I personally, would not be standing here. As an African American, I wouldn’t exist, none of us would, if slavery in Africa had not been a fact of life. It is our heritage.
Here in America, many of us have traced the steps of slaves who lived here, through the underground railroad, and other such places. And right here in the middle of Maryland, overlooking the Potomac River, our house stands on former plantation lands. But it was a new feeling of being even closer to where part of the slave trade actually began; walking through doorways where just a few centuries earlier, terrified Africans were thrown into stone prisons just hours after being dragged from their homes, knowing not what fate faced them; and being forced to board ships that carried them away from their families and their countries to become beasts of burden. But these places also bring hope, as you will see the sculpture that states these words, "Never Again."
Here in America, many of us have traced the steps of slaves who lived here, through the underground railroad, and other such places. And right here in the middle of Maryland, overlooking the Potomac River, our house stands on former plantation lands. But it was a new feeling of being even closer to where part of the slave trade actually began; walking through doorways where just a few centuries earlier, terrified Africans were thrown into stone prisons just hours after being dragged from their homes, knowing not what fate faced them; and being forced to board ships that carried them away from their families and their countries to become beasts of burden. But these places also bring hope, as you will see the sculpture that states these words, "Never Again."
Goree Island, Senegal
James Island Museum, The Gambia
I regret now not actually visiting James Island, but we did go through the museum in Juffureh. The next few pages of the website will take you there, as well as Goree Island, and the small village of Juffureh, where the actual descendents of Kunte Kinte still live.
