This month marks 400 years since the first recorded African slaves arrived in North America to work plantations in English colonies. Many died in horrific conditions on the slave boats, while survivors endured a life of misery and backbreaking farm work.
His uncle was called Kwame Badu, a name that has been passed on through the family in remembrance of an ancestor with that name who was captured and sold into slavery long, long ago."Growing up, I was told the story of two of my great-great-grand-uncles Kwame Badu and Kofi Aboagye who were captured and sold into slavery," says Assenso, 68, the chief of Adidwan, a village in Ghana's interior. He followed the family tradition and named his youngest son Kwame Badu.
For some of them, the terrible journey began here, deep inside Ghana. Captured by slavers, they were marched along dirt tracks for 200 kilometers to slave castles perched on the Atlantic Coast, where they boarded ships for North America. They never saw their homeland again.A boy rides a bicycle along a road in Denyase.Kwaku Agyei is a pastor and elder in Obuasi. He tells the story of the slave trade to young workers in his neighbourhood, the indignity of it mixed with pride in his ancestors.
Abdul Sumud Shaibu, 50, also lives in Obuasi and tells of his strong ancestors. He shows a photograph of his grandfather that he saved to his mobile phone. "My ancestors were giants," he says. "They were well-built and strong. Look at the height of my grandfather in this picture."
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