Ouidah: The Slave Capitol of Africa

Three hundred years ago, Ouidah was the main port of exit for millions of Africans. Only a few forts have survived in Benin and the Portugese fort in Ouidah was where the conference participants started on the road to reconciliation.

It became the most emotional and life changing trip for many.

• A Noble Desire (part 2), FOX 43
• Ouidah, WHRO
• WHRV radio report

In Their Own Words...

Read the personal journals of Kelly Wright and Van Dora Williams as they experienced these historic events.

Walking the Slave Route
Van Dora Williams, WHRO
December 3, 1999

We started at an old Portuguese fort that was turned into a museum. Beninese artwork told the historical story of how the Portuguese came to Benin first as friendly traders. The artwork depicts how the slave trade became profitable for both the Portuguese traders and the King of Abomey.

In the fort was a square where captured Africans were held for months at a time waiting for an unknown fate. Many died there because hundreds of Africans were cramped in that small square. It was hot. Can you imagine what it was like for those Africans hundreds of years ago waiting in the hot sun with no shade?

After the fort, they drove us to the auction place. A huge tree shadowed the cobbled square where the Africans were bartered off to the Dutch, Portguese, British and Spanish traders.

The next place was the slave road. It's a straight and narrow path packed with red dirt. It had many twists and turns. On either side were villages or thick, foliage. You couldn't see anything ahead and looking back you only saw the road. Some of the villagers came out to wave at us. I wondered what they thought as we walked by.

The next place was the Hut of Zomai. Light was not allowed in. The captors needed to acclimate their captives to the conditions on the ships. So they made sure hundreds of people were packed in that hut together. They relieved themselves in that hut, they slept and ate in that hut. The only time they were allowed to leave was to be branded or taken to the tree of no return.

Looking at the statues of the gagged man and woman and hearing the tour guide say children were also treated this way, I got angry. These kings knew exactly what they were doing. They knew how bad conditions were going to be for the captives and they still continued to sell. As a matter of fact, the Kings needed to dehumanize the Africans, strip them of their identity so they would be ready for a life of slavery. The auction place and the hut of Zomai were used for that particular purpose. I remember hearing a Benin historian say it was necessary to treat them like animals so they would behave like animals.

I stood there watching those statues. Tears were building in my eyes. I thought about how my ancestors went through this port, went through that humiliation and terror. What kind of people lived here hundreds of years ago and let this happen? And they want me to forgive them? How could I?

Our last stop was the Gate of No Return. It looks like the l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Behind it was the Atlantic Ocean. It was absolutely amazing how deep the feelings went as I stood there looking at it. I could just see the ghosts of slave ships, anchored and waiting for their cargo.

The Atlantic Ocean was loud today. The sounds of crashing waves could not ease the depth of regret and pain I felt. My faith teaches me to forgive but this...this was too hard.

I looked out on the horizon and thought maybe one of my ancestors looked back on the shore and said one day I will return. Maybe through me, they had. They returned home. Free.

I whispered, "whoever you were, I came back. You came back."

Then I was ready to forgive.

At the Gate of No Return
Kelly Wright, FOX 43
December 3, 1999

The waves crash upon the shore of Ouidah. If the sea could talk it would tell an unimaginable tale of horror. Millions of captive Africans were brought here bound and gagged in chains, they were often tortured through harsh whippings and beatings, and placed on ships to set sail for the Americas, the Caribbean, and England.

However, many Africans never made it to their destinations. Some killed themselves before making it to the ships, choosing to die rather than live in captivity. Others who were too sick or too weak for the journey were thrown into a mass grave and left to die.

For those that did make it to the ships, they were packed tightly into the hull of the vessel as if they were sardines. Exposure to disease, starvation and rape proved deadly. In some cases they were thrown overboard -- alive -- to a watery death.

At Ouidah, stands a monument to this painful past. It's called the Gate of No Return. All of us were moved as we studied the Gate, its sculptures of captured Africans is haunting and moving. The Gate represents the slave port where millions of African souls were snatched from their homeland.

It was here where I was overcome with emotion of the entire event. Tears streamed down my face as I considered the brutality of slavery, the breaking up of families; fathers, mothers, grandparents and children forever separated from each other and their native land. The slave trade scattered Africa's best and ablest for generations. Its seeds of greatness were displaced through this dastardly deed.

As I wept openly, I found solace in the arms of my African brothers who embraced me as their own and welcomed me back home. They personally apologized to me for the misdeeds of the past and I readily forgave them. This is how true reconciliation begins.