The Cape Coast in the south of Ghana is littered with the remnants of Ghana’s painful slavery history, prominent of which are the infamous Slave Castles.
These landmarks are living testimony to an era where millions of Africans, earmarked for the burgeoning slave trade in Europe and the Americas were loaded into ships, never to return.
Film Fixers travelled to Ghana on a Discovery Channel assignment to document this shameful past – focusing on two pre-eminent landmarks – the Cape Coast Castle and the massive Elmina Castle – both of which stand out prominently in the busy, crowded Cape Coast.
boat and shipped to the Americas, never returning. One castle in particular, Cape Coast Castle was given the nickname of the “gate of no return.” It was the last stop before crossing the Atlantic.
We were honoured to be given yet another remote shooting opportunity with our long time partners at Discovery Chanel, and we travelled into Ghana to explore the dark history of slave trading.
GHANA
Ghana is a country rich with heritage and unique character and has always been a favourite destination of ours. The rich tapestry of history and geography – and the ever-friendly seething masses of people wherever you go, make this a popular destination for stories – and serves a budding ‘Ghanawood’ film industry. From the aforementioned Cape Coast, through the Volta waterways to the beautiful, wild interiors, Ghana can provide unique locations for your project.
But back to the dark reason that brought us to Ghana…..
HISTORY
Firstly, a bit of background to set the scene. Ghana first attracted the Europeans due to its quantities of gold dust, and soon became a trading point for timber and gold, a point of contention for dominion between various European nations from 1482 to 1786, especially along this “gold-coast.”
In the 1500s, the demand for human labour grew in the “new world”, and so came the period of the great Atlantic Slave Trade. These beautiful forts and trading posts were repurposed and modified to house slaves. And so these Castles became dungeons of death and terror.
THE CAPE COAST CASTLES
Whilst there were a number of slave trading posts inland and on the coast, our particular focus was on the two bad boys – the Cape Coast Castle and Elmina Castle. At face value, two grand old dames, with stark, thick white walls rising out of the sea with massive battlements and parapets, adorned with cannons and flags flying on masts. Quite beautiful – at face value.
Through the lens, we attempted to capture the physical evidence inside the walls of these two locations. As we moved through the castles, moving from room to room, going deeper and deeper into the bowels of the building, the horror story unfolded. We saw the dungeons where the slaves were kept in crowded, stinking, disease-ridden rooms, with markings on the walls, bars on the sparse, tiny windows that let scant air and light in. Chains and anchor points served as stark reminders. We walked the path that they must have walked – if they lived that long – to the aptly names ‘door of no return’ – the tiny grate where they were lowered out to waiting boats to be taken to the ships anchored in the bay for their one-way trip. We walked the path they must have walked to the solitary confinement if they were punished – few of whom returned. We followed our host as he matter-of-factly documented what life must have been like. But, as the expression goes, you had to be there. The cameras could capture the physical, but it was impossible to capture the growing dread and revulsion that rose as we moved through.
At any given time, over one-thousand slaves were crammed into these cells, unable to lie down, defecating where they were – sometimes waiting up to a year to be loaded onto the ships. Many did not make it that far. The records will show that some 12.5 million slaves were shipped from Africa to service the Trans-Atlantic slave demand. What is little known is that over 20% of those slaves never made it to their destination, with over 2 million perishing en-route. And what is even lesser-known is that for every slave that went through the ‘Door of No Return’ probably 2 died in waiting. This means that up to 25 million people died in vain, making this one of the worst holocausts in history.
OUR EXPERIENCE
The saddest reality must have been the realization that they would never return. But in a way, they have. It was incredibly moving to witness groups of descendants, all on a pilgrimage to pay homage to their ancestors, weeping uncontrollably as they experienced what we had. We spoke to them, and listened to their stories – and it became clear that the pain of those horrific practices over 3 centuries ago still live on, because for them, nothing will ever be the same.
Whilst we love and relish opportunities to expose Africa through stories like these, it was without doubt one of the most humbling experiences, and one that will live with us. And so it should.