Nadia "Sparkle" Henry
For many Black travelers, meaningful journeys are those that connect them with their roots, heritage and personal experiences. When visiting new destinations, they'll often seek to engage with the local culture to find familiarity amid the unfamiliar. The goal may be to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the destination ... and themselves.
It's one of the reasons that many Blacks from America want especially to visit Africa.
Ghana in particular is rising as a destination sought by African Americans and has been accelerated by the country's "The Year of Return" and "Beyond the Return" initiatives as well as the celebration known as Detty December.
In this first of a two-part Journeys, I will look at these initiatives and the trips I organized to experience them, beginning with "The Year of Return." (Read part two, "Return to Ghana has a lasting effect.")
'The Year of Return'
This concept, launched in 2019, was designed to mark the 400th year since the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade, when the first enslaved Africans arrived in what would become the United States.
The Ghanaian government invited the global African diaspora to explore its roots and celebrate African heritage. The project sparked significant interest worldwide and boosted tourism and cultural exchanges with events, festivals and educational programs throughout the year.
From Dec. 26, 2019 to Jan. 2, 2020, I had the pleasure of escorting 20 clients to Ghana to experience the initiative. During our eight days there, we learned about what our ancestors endured as they and Africans from many areas of the continent were taken forcefully from their villages and subjected to years of deprivation, humiliation and torture. It is estimated that 12.5 million Africans were taken into slavery between 1501 and 1867.
An enslaved person's original name was among the things lost, and during our stay we participated in a naming ceremony, receiving a Ghanaian name based on the day of the week we were born. Replacing a person's name was not just a minor humiliation; by renaming our ancestors, slaveholders robbed them of an important sense of self and of their heritage, making it more difficult to maintain a connection to their original identity and community, their ethnic background, their family histories and cultural practices.
Touring the Elmina slave "castles" -- the first structures built to hold enslaved people awaiting the grim voyage across the Atlantic -- and visiting both the female and male dungeons gave us a sense of what our ancestors endured.
Ghana was formerly known as the Gold Coast because of its abundance of natural and mineral resources, including timber, ivory, spices, palm oil and diamonds. It became clear to us why Europeans came to Africa to enslave strong Black men and women and plunder their wealth.
But our dark history was only part of what we came away with; we also enjoyed vibrant experiences at craft markets, indulged in Ghanaian cuisine and attended Afrochella, a cultural festival featuring live entertainment and African artisan vendors.
The program succeeded in welcoming millions of Africans from the diaspora, and many decided to stay. During "The Year of Return," Ghana had begun a policy called the Right of Abode, which simplified obtaining Ghanaian residency and citizenship. As a result, around 1,500 African Americans have relocated there, and in November Ghana president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo granted citizenship to 524 people who returned to live in the country. An additional 200 individuals became citizens in January.