The Middle Passage Project
Certificate of Pilgrimage signed by Joseph Ndiaye
“Cape Coast Castle, a former ‘slave factory’ in the central coastal region of Ghana, symbolizes a break or tear with the African past. ‘Sites of memory’ like this one problematize and complicate our understanding of what it means to be African American.”
“...[M]emory crystallizes and secretes itself at a particular historical moment, a turning point where consciousness of a break with the past is bound up with the sense that memory has ben torn -- but torn in such a way as to pose the problem of the embodiment of memory in certain sites where a sense of historical continuity persists.” --Pierre Nora, Les Lieux de Memoire
“At Elmina, a giant compass rose, built by the Dutch to true the compasses on their ships...”
“The governor then came and stood at his balcony carefully looking through and then making his choice. The one selected was washed down by the soldiers and after that she was escorted to the governor’s bedroom.” --Komla Pajibo, The Realities About Elmina
“For the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.” --Psalm 132:14 Old Dutch Chapel at Elmina, built above women’s dungeon.
Women’s Dungeon Elmina
“At Elmina Castle slave factory, women who refused to comply with the slaver’s sexual demands were left chained to these balls of iron in the tropical sun of the castle courtyard.”
“Here at Elmina Castle, aslo known as St. Goerge’s Castle, free Africans who refused to be made into slaves were forced into the cell on the left without food or water, as many as four at a time. The door remained firmly locked until all were dead. In the interim, the dead and the living lay horribly intertwined.”
“Cape Coast Castle, a former ‘slave factory’ in the central coastal region of Ghana, symbolizes a break or tear with the African past. ‘Sites of memory’ like this one problematize and complicate our understanding of what it means to be an African American.”
“...the blood that binds us is deeper than the water that divides us!” --Crossing A Deep River
Gorée Island Slave House Maison des Esclaves
Joseph Ndiaye, Chief Curator Maison des Esclaves Gorée Island, Senegal
“Mariétou Ndago, tour guide and sovereing spirit, teaching in French, English and Wolof at Gorée, touching the fracture, the tear that we come to repair...” Maison des Esclaves 6 July 1998
“‘Innocent babe, for from the smile and the tears of your mother!’” Children’s Dungeon, Maison des Esclaves
“The mother might go to America, the father to Brazil, the children to the Antilles, Separation was irrevocable.” --Joseph Ndiyae, Curator Maison des Esclaves Gorée Island, Senegal
“Gorée reminds us of the hummiliation which man inflicted on his neighbor. We will never forget. Forgive, not forget.” --Abdou Diouf, President of Senegal April 2, 1998
“The future of a people can only be illuminated when founded on the past.” --Joseph Ndiaye, Curator Maison des Esclaves, Gorée
“Comme nous sommes le même peuple, je peux vias le dire...” --Joseph Ndiaye, Chief Curator Maison des Esclaves
“The long journey of African Americans prove that the spirit can never be enslaved.” --U.S. President William Jefferson ClintonGorée, 3 April 1998
“It was called the DOOR OF DEATH... NO ONE who crossed over that threshold was ever heard from again!”
“The sea took us away, the sea will bring us back.” -- African ProverbGorée Island Ferry
“Come, let us dance this ring shout of reconciliation and renewal! I invite you! I beg you. Come!” --Crossing A Deep River
“Black virgin, braided angel, pray for us now...” Dakar, Senegal
