Visiting Ghana: A Spiritual and Cultural Pilgrimage to the Homeland

As a pivotal site in the transatlantic slave trade, Ghana maintains forts and dungeons that serve as haunting reminders of where countless enslaved individuals were traded before their tragic Middle Passage. These locations marked the last connection to their homeland before enslavement on plantations. Shortly after arriving in Accra from Nantes, France, I embarked on a three-hour journey to the coast with a group predominantly composed of young Black Americans. We were headed to Cape Coast Castle, a site that elicits conflicting emotions, among the forty fortifications on West Africa's Gold Coast. As the bus jolted along the unpaved road, I caught glimpses of both familiar and novel scenes: a woman balancing a purse on her head, and boys engrossed in a game. As a Spelman College student, I felt a deeper bond in Ghana, joining countless Black Americans seeking spiritual refuge and heightened racial consciousness. The Year of Return initiative has further solidified Ghana’s role in promoting racial healing and embracing its diaspora.