African American mother and daughter "hit hard" searching for their identity in Ghana Slavery Tour

Record ID: 1428126

  • Title: African American mother and daughter "hit hard" searching for their identity in Ghana Slavery Tour
  • Date: 22nd August 2019
  • Summary: NKWANTAKESE, GHANA (AUGUST 10, 2019) (REUTERS) PROFESSOR TANI SANCHEZ, HER DAUGHTER TANI SYLVESTER AND OTHER AFRICAN AMERICANS ON A HERITAGE TOUR ARRIVING IN FRONT OF BUILDING WHERE AN ASHANTI DURBAR CEREMONY IS TO TAKE PLACE TO WELCOME THEM BACK ASHANTI MEN DRESSED IN TRADITIONAL CLOTHES PLAYING DRUMS ASHANTI CHIEF NANA BOAKYE YAM ABABIO OBREMPONG ARRIVING FOR CEREMONY SYLVESTER TAKING PICTURE WITH HER PHONE ASHANTI CHIEF NANA BOAKYE SEATED DURING CEREMONY SANCHEZ WAITING IN LINE TO SHAKE HANDS WITH ASHANTI CHIEF NANA BOAKYE SANCHEZ SHAKING HANDS WITH ASHANTI CHIEF NANA BOAKYE SANCHEZ CRYING AFTER SHAKING HANDS WITH ASHANTI CHIEF NANA BOAKYE SYLVESTER NOTICING HER MOTHER IS CRYING ASHANTI CHIEF NANA BOAKYE DANCING DURING CEREMONY ASHANTI CHIEF NANA BOAKYE DANCING NEXT TO SANCHEZ DRUMS SANCHEZ ARRIVING TO SIT NEXT TO ASHANTI CHIEF NANA BOAKYE VARIOUS OF SANCHEZ ASKING ASHANTI CHIEF NANA BOAKYE IF HE IS WILLING TO DO A DNA TEST SO SHE CAN CHECK IF HE MIGHT BE RELATED TO HER / CHIEF ACCEPTS AND SHE KISSES HIS HAND ELMINA, GHANA (AUGUST 12, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) HERITAGE TOUR PARTICIPANT AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF AFRICAN STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, TANI SANCHEZ, SAYING: "I couldn't believe I actually cried at one of the durbar ceremonies but I feel much more connected and I look at people and I say 'oh my goodness, you know, that could have been, these people could be related to me. These people probably knew my grandmother's grandmother's grandmother. I mean it just, it blows me away and then to actually be with groups that are identified through DNA. I just felt like it wasn't a coincidence." ASSIN MANSO, GHANA (AUGUST 11, 2019) (REUTERS) SANCHEZ AND SYLVESTER POSING IN FRONT OF SIGN SAYING (English): "WELCOME TO ASSIN MANSO SLAVE RIVER SITE, NEVER AGAIN" (SOUNDBITE)(English) HERITAGE TOUR PARTICIPANT AND DIRECTOR OF ACQUISITIONS FOR HOOPLA STREAMING SERVICE, TANI SYLVESTER, SAYING (AUDIO OVER BACK SHOT OF SYLVESTER WALKING WITH HER MOTHER): "I think it's so interesting that we are retracing the footsteps of our ancestors, like exactly, I mean there is something, there is something healing about that." SANCHEZ AND SYLVESTER WALKING PATH TOWARDS SLAVE RIVER SANCHEZ AND SYLVESTER LINING UP - IN THE SAME WAY SLAVES WERE MADE TO LINE UP - WITH OTHER TOURISTS FROM THE TOUR TO ENTER SLAVE RIVER AREA SANCHEZ AND SYLVESTER WAITING IN LINE LINE MOVING SANCHEZ, SYLVESTER AND OTHERS ENTERING SLAVE RIVER AREA U.S. TOURIST PUTTING HER HAND IN RIVER WHERE SLAVES USED TO WASH VARIOUS OF SANCHEZ AND SYLVESTER TOUCHING WATER IN RIVER WHERE SLAVES USED TO WASH STAIRS LEADING TO RIVER SYLVESTER HOLDING UP HER HANDS IN MEMORY OF ANCESTORS AND SLAVES, FEET IN THE RIVER MEMBERS OF TOUR GROUP IN RIVER AFTER PRAYING THROWING A COIN IN THE RIVER TOUR GUIDE TELLING MEMBERS TO HUG AND CONGRATULATE THE PERSON NEXT TO THEM SANCHEZ CONGRATULATING OTHER MEMBER OF THE TOUR SYLVESTER CONGRATULATING OTHER MEMBER OF THE TOUR AND SAYING (English): "Congratulations for making the journey back to your roots, I got in there (the river)." SYLVESTER AND OTHER TOUR MEMBER LETTING GO OF EACH OTHER'S HAND (SOUNDBITE) (English) HERITAGE TOUR PARTICIPANT AND DIRECTOR OF ACQUISITIONS FOR HOOPLA STREAMING SERVICE, TANI SYLVESTER, SAYING: "This was big, yeah, but I felt like something, like I felt different, like something changed, I said a prayer in there, yes." ELMINA, GHANA (AUGUST 12, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) HERITAGE TOUR PARTICIPANT AND DIRECTOR OF ACQUISITIONS FOR HOOPLA STREAMING SERVICE, TANI SYLVESTER, SAYING: "I think for me it was yesterday when we went to the washing area and just seeing how the slaves were lined up and forced to walk really fast to keep up with the overseers who were on horses and mules. And then just taking that last bath, (TANI SANCHEZ LISTENING) I kind of felt, you know, what my mum was saying about honouring the ancestors, (BACK TO TANI SYLVESTER TALKING) like my ancestors wanted me to get into that water and retrace their steps and even just taking off my shoes and, like, feeling the same ground that they walked on, getting into the water, like, I just feel like I came out of that water a different person than I went into." CAPE COAST, GHANA (AUGUST 12, 2019) (REUTERS) TIME-LAPSE OF DAY RISING AT CAPE COAST CASTLE CANONS AT CAPE COAST CASTLE CAPE COAST CASTLE OVERSEEING ATLANTIC OCEAN BOATS ARRIVING AS PEOPLE PLAY SOCCER IN FRONT OF CAPE COAST CASTLE SANCHEZ, SYLVESTER AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE TOUR ARRIVING AT CAPE COAST CASTLE MAIN COURTYARD OF CAPE COAST CASTLE MEMBERS OF THE TOUR ARRIVING IN FRONT OF DOOR OF NO RETURN SANCHEZ AND SYLVESTER LISTENING TO TOUR GUIDE SAYING THEY WILL SEE WHAT IS BEHIND THE 'DOOR OF NO RETURN' SANCHEZ AND SYLVESTER GOING TROUGH DOOR OF NO RETURN VARIOUS OF FISHERMEN BEHIND DOOR OF NO RETURN (SOUNDBITE) (English) HERITAGE TOUR PARTICIPANT AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF AFRICAN STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, TANI SANCHEZ, SAYING (AUDIO OVER VIEWS OF FISHERMEN AT WORK AND TANI SANCHEZ TALKING TO HER DAUGHTER): "With the Holocaust there were a whole lot of people living around when they were burning the bodies and they just turned a blind eye." (SOUNDBITE) (English) HERITAGE TOUR PARTICIPANT AND DIRECTOR OF ACQUISITIONS FOR HOOPLA STREAMING SERVICE, TANI SYLVESTER, SAYING: "Yeah, so it's the same thing, history repeats itself." (SOUNDBITE) (English) HERITAGE TOUR PARTICIPANT AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF AFRICAN STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, TANI SANCHEZ, SAYING: "Well, they were repeating what happened us prior, so." DOOR OF NO RETURN SEEN FROM OTHER SIDE SANCHEZ LOOKING AT DOOR SANCHEZ AND TOUR MEMBER, MIRIAM ALLEN, WALKING BACK THROUGH DOOR (SOUNDBITE) (English) HERITAGE TOUR PARTICIPANT AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF AFRICAN STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, TANI SANCHEZ, SAYING (AUDIO OVER BACK VIEW OF SANCHEZ WALKING THROUGH DOOR): "It's a bit much isn't it, it's such a horrible thing." (SOUNDBITE) (English) HERITAGE TOUR PARTICIPANT AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF AFRICAN STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, TANI SANCHEZ, SAYING: "It's unbelievable, you have a whole ...." (SOUNDBITE) (English) HERITAGE TOUR PARTICIPANT, MIRIAM ALLEN, SAYING: "They don't treat livestock this way because they had a value - humans didn't, black people didn't have value." (SOUNDBITE) (English) HERITAGE TOUR PARTICIPANT AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF AFRICAN STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, TANI SANCHEZ, SAYING: "It's just something really, really wrong." MIRIAM AND SANCHEZ WALKING THROUGH MAIN COURTYARD OF CAPE COAST CASTLE ELMINA, GHANA (AUGUST 12, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) HERITAGE TOUR PARTICIPANT AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF AFRICAN STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, TANI SANCHEZ, SAYING: "I have taught introduction to African-American studies and I taught slavery and there is something about being here and actually walking on the path and looking at the dungeons and looking at the devastation colonisation has left. There is nothing like it. You can teach it, but when you walk it becomes so much more real. So, on one level - on that level, that surpassed anything. I don't know what I expected, but I didn't expect it to hit me so hard." CAPE COAST, GHANA (AUGUST 12, 2019) (REUTERS) (MUTE) VARIOUS OF SLOW MOTION OF SANCHEZ AND SYLVESTER WALKING IN CAPE COAST CASTLE ELMINA, GHANA (AUGUST 12, 2019) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) HERITAGE TOUR PARTICIPANT AND DIRECTOR OF ACQUISITIONS FOR HOOPLA STREAMING SERVICE, TANI SYLVESTER, SAYING: "Thinking of the same route they took and how they must have felt going to a new world and not really understanding anything. And, here I am 400 years later and I'm free. So, for me like this whole trip has been about holding my head up high, being bold and courageous and honouring them because they paved the way for me." TIME-LAPSE OF NIGHT FALLING ON A DUTCH FORT IN ELMINA (MUTE)
  • Embargoed: 5th September 2019 12:00
  • Keywords: ghana genealogy tourism slave ship 400 years diaspora africa african american studies usa lineage slavery history ancestry
  • Location: NKWANTAKESE, ELMINA, ASSIN MANSO AND CAPE COAST, GHANA
  • City: NKWANTAKESE, ELMINA, ASSIN MANSO AND CAPE COAST, GHANA
  • Country: Ghana
  • Topics: Race Relations / Ethnic Issues,Society/Social Issues,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA001ATATEFB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Professor Tani Sanchez, an African American from Los Angeles, went on a heritage tour in Ghana this August to honour her ancestors and find her roots.
    Sanchez made the trip in honour of her great-great-grandmother, Mary Ann Moss, who was born into slavery in Alabama around 1838. Moss was married to a black Union soldier from Maryland named Charles Wright and DNA testing showed a direct link between Wright and the Ashanti ethnic group in Ghana.
    It was at a grand durbar of Ashanti Kingdom chiefs welcoming ceremony that Tani Sanchez broke.
    Five days into the tour Sanchez, who was travelling with her daughter Tani Sylvester, met Nana Boakye Yaw Ababio Obrempong, the second in command of the Akwamu Division to the Asantehene.
    As she listened to the drum beats and watched the chief welcoming her Tani wept knowing she was amongst a direct lineage to her ancestors and felt they were watching over her homecoming.
    Sanchez spent a long time researching her ancestry which she compiled into a published book but, like most African-Americans, her distant past was forcibly erased by slavery. Would-be family historians often reach dead-ends due to a lack of personal records from a time when black people were treated as commodities.
    It was genetic-testing that gave Sanchez hope that DNA could shed light on the family's long-lost origins.
    She said that one of her genealogy goals was to locate the specific family within the different groups, within the Ashanti and within the Fante, a subgroup of the Akan people that she belonged to and on that day she felt closer to reaching her goal than ever. Sanchez sat next to chief Nana Boakye and asked him if he would do a DNA test for her to find out if they shared any genetic links.
    "I feel much more connected and I look at people and I say oh my goodness, you know, that could have been, these people could be related to me, these people probably knew my grandmother's grandmother's grandmother. I mean it just, it blows me away and then to actually meet groups that are identified through DNA. I just felt like it wasn't a coincidence," said Tani Sanchez.
    For her daughter, 40 years old and working for a streaming service in the United States, the visit to Assin Manso river where slaves took a final bath before imprisonment on the coast was a transformative experience.
    "We are retracing the footsteps of our ancestors ....there is something healing about that," said Tani Sylvester to her mother as they walked down, bare-foot, to the 'Slave River'.
    Before reaching the water the two Tanis formed a line with the rest of the group, just as slaves had done centuries before.
    On the guide's invitation, Sylvester stepped into the creek, closed her eyes and raised her hands in prayer.
    "Just taking off my shoes and feeling the same ground that they walked on, getting into the water, I just feel like I came out of that water a different person," she said.
    They also visited the harrowing Cape Coast Castle where slaves were chained, triaged and organised into dungeons before walking through the 'Door of No Return' to board the ships that brought them to America.
    "They don't treat livestock this way because they had a value - humans didn't, black people didn't have value," said Miriam Allen, a fellow tour member, speaking to Sanchez coming back from the Door of No Return.
    The professor and her daughter both said the trip gave them back their identity.
    "This is my home, this is where I am from," Sylvester said before leaving Ghana at the end of the tour.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register