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History, Memory, Slave-Trade and Slavery in Anlo (Ghana)

In an insightful article on the collection of oral history on the experience of slavery, Martin Klein commented on how those of slave descent in West Africa and North America respond differently to the historical experience of slavery. Africans of slave descent choose to ‘forget’ their slave origins, whilst African-Americans emphasize ‘remembering’ the historical experience of slavery. In North America, the co-existence of different races may have deleted ‘forgetting’ as a viable option. Transposed to a continent different from that of their ancestors, daily existence was a reminder of the legacy of slavery. What was celebrated then among African-Americans was the ability to rise from ‘modest origins’. In contrast, West Africans prefer not to discuss the legacy of slavery. Even successful and enterprising individuals do not easily shake off the social stigma of slave descent. Thus, descendants of slaves choose not to disclose their origins. Perhaps, because those of slave descent constitute significant proportions of local populations in various parts of West Africa, to bring slavery and its legacy within the realm of public discussion threatens national integration in recently independent countries. Even in precolonial times, the powerful state of Asante acknowledged the large incorporation of peoples of unfree origins into its polity by enshrining a prohibition in its national laws against highlighting anyone’s slave origins. In contemporary Ghana, few Ghanaian historians have worked systematically on slavery and the slave-trade, Akosua Perbi being a notable exception. There has been a conspicuous absence of dialogue between Africans and African-Americans over slavery and the slave-trade. The Afro-American quest for roots in West Africa in the past decade or so is closing this gap in the discourse. This is not to state that there has been no internal reflection on the legacy of the slave-trade and slavery in West African societies. What we are beginning to see is a convergence in what used to be previously separate ‘conversations’.