Elmina and Assin Manso

9/4/11

Well, I am sorry to do this to you, but this is going to be a downer of an entry. I would rather not do this, but the circumstances essentially require me too. Last Friday (9/2) I went to Elmina Castle, which was a slave castle. For obvious reasons that was a difficult trip, but at the same time it was necessary.

The first part of the tour took us into the women’s cells, which was honestly traumatic. The cells were lined on the bottom level around a small courtyard, above which the general of the castle had his office and living space. The only time they were taken out of the cells was either when they were being transported to a slave ship, they were removed when they were dead (sometimes dead bodies were not removed for days), or the general made his selection. All the women would be gathered together in the courtyard, and the general would choose which women he wanted to sleep with. After he had pleasured himself, that woman would be brought back to a separate cell, but the ordeal was usually not over for her, because the guards would often thrill themselves at the woman’s expense. She was usually kept in this predicament until she died.

The next part took us to the men’s cells, which did not have a courtyard, or any light whatsoever. Through the men’s cells was the Door of No Return, where people would be taken onto ships and never return to Africa, for they were shipped into a lifetime of servitude in Brazil, the Caribbean, or the United States. The door was narrow, and the only way to get them through was to ensure that the captives were skinny enough to fit, so they were deliberately underfed to make them become skinnier. This was also to make the packing for the Middle Passage more efficient, getting more people on a ship at a time. In the cells (both men and women) there were no utilities, so people were forced to defecate where they were at, which piled up over time, creating a layer of excrement on the bottom of the floor, where they also had to sleep. Walking into the cells, I could smell something odd (and I have a bad sense of smell, so the fact that I smelled something means a lot). It was still the remaining particles of smell that were embedded into the stone of human remains, and not just fecal matter. The entire thing was disturbing, but it wasn’t the end of the tour.

After this, we ascended the castle to the upper levels, which also experienced a few more things that were quite disturbing. First of all, there were cannons on the castle, but they only faced towards the sea, for they were more concerned about other European nations coming to take over than an invasion from African peoples. This was because the populations on the coast became allied to the Europeans and they captured peoples from northern Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Northern Togo and Ivory Coast. The Europeans systematically subjugated the African populations by the intricate trade network. This trade supported the subjugation of Africa by other Africans, being unaware of the long-term results that this would create, since they were just trying to make a monetary bonus. On the upper levels of the castle were the people who were deemed more important according to the Europeans. This included the housing of missionaries, a church, and the staff who ran the castle. The entire idea of it honestly pissed me off, for this is not what Christianity should be aligned with. They should have been the ones dismantling the castle, not taking up residence in it. I wish I was making this stuff up, but I’m not.

Well, sorry about this post, but it had to happen.

Jon

9/7/11

Well, this entry is probably going to be shorter than the previous one I just wrote, but it also is going to be a downer. Today, we took an hour bus drive north of Cape Coast to a place called Assin Manso. This is not a place that is talked about a lot, because it was a slave trading station. When we approached Assin Manso, I noticed that there were no people around the complex who were looking for tourists to make money off of. That means that a lot less people go to it. This is probably because it is away from the more touristy areas, and it does not hold the infamy that the slave castles hold.

We entered into the comples through a metal gate and were immediately in a courtyard. This was a main trading center where people were sold and then shipped to the castles. It should be noted that most of the people taken into slavery were not from the coast, but rather from northern Ghana and Burkina Faso. These people were transported, often without clothing, for about 300 miles on foot until they arrived at Assin Manso. Throughout the whole journey they would be chained. Many were injured and on the verge of death. To make the captives more appealing, they made the captives bath in a river (still chained), and then they were left out to dry in the sun like one would dry their clothes on a line. A recent search of the river found a ball and chain still there, and I held them for a brief bit. They were heavy, and I felt disgusted that someone at some point was bound to this object and forced into a lifetime of servitude or death.

After they were cleaned, they were brought into the courtyard for exhibition, where they would be sold to the slave castles. At this point, the previous blog should come into play. If they survived both this first journey and then the horrific experience in the castles, then they were placed into a ship on the infamous Middle Passage, and if they survived all of that, then they were bound to a lifetime of servitude. Humans are capable of so much cruelty and have such a horrific potential. I hope that nothing like this ever happens again.

Jon