Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along The Atlantic Slave Route

Hartman visits Salaga, a town in the Ghana’s northern section that was “the heartland of slavery” (178). Seven roads lead into Salaga, and merchants and traders, many of whom once brought batches of slaves sometimes numbering as many as 1,000-2,000, are on the roads. “Had you been traveling along this road in the eighteenth or nineteenth century, no doubt you would have seen a band of strangers, whose chains were the clear sign that they would never pass this way again, heading toward the market” (179).

Today, those living in Salaga prefer to forget the town’s history, although some are encouraging tourism for those who do want to remember, especially slave descendants such as Hartman. She speaks to a teacher who is defensive about the town’s history. He tells history this way: The more powerful Asantes forced the Gonja tribe, who lived in the region, to pay tribute to them each year with items such as 1,000 slaves. “The famed Gonja warriors began raiding for slaves from the moment the state was founded in the seventeenth century” (181). People were so frightened of the raids that might turn them into slaves that they raided others to survive. The teacher insists that there were reasons for the enslavement of one’s own.