| Mary Adjoa Owusu | "Throughout my journey as an artist, I have encountered African Americans trying to reconnect to the African continent. They visit castles and forts, purchase local handicrafts, like clothes, jewelry, masks and other carvings. Because of them, I was motivated to learn more about the transatlantic slave trade, so I visited the Cape Coast and Elmina Castles with my family.
My mum, who is in her nineties, is a repository of historic information. I learned that there was an internal slave trade within Ghana, that my own great, great grandmother — a royal from the northern part of Ghana — was enslaved and sent to the southern part. During Black History Month, I think about how Ghanaians and African Americans can embrace each other and work to prevent other forms of modern slavery from taking place." | |
