Thank you for the kind words! Yes, it’s more complicated than usually presented, but it’s important not to accept “whataboutism”, i.e. the argument that some Africans traded blacks as well as whites, that Africans owned slaves, etc. That’s true, but doesn’t excuse anything: how whites continued to oppress and enslave black and indigenous people for hundreds of years. As for Badagry, it’s really not ready for prime time, i.e. the numbers of visitors who would and should visit it. The infrastructure just isn’t there. I’d suggest Ghana instead, where places like Elmina Castle illustrate the same or similar history but are better able to handle tourism.

I have tried to impress on people of all races and in case of Nigerian friends and colleagues the importance of this visit in order to grasp the inhumanity of humans. Although other trips in Nigeria taken with the Nigerian Cultural society were more enjoyable like those to the Durban in Kano and Katsina, none were as powerful as the visit to Badagry. I have also traveled in, worked and lived for years in Angola, Republic of Congo, DRC (Zaire), South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, and Tanzania.

When one loosely debates the “original sin” of slavery with colleagues, family, and friends they can’t grasp how far back and who is implicated in said “Sin”.

Best Regards… JJP

Thanks, I will be forwarding your link to friends who are educators.

Translation for other readers: “This place reminds me of my last visit to the tourist sites of Ouidah in the South of Benin. Through all these places, we relive the indescribable drama that some of our ancestors experienced. It has been so long that we are moving towards a new horizon.”

There’s definitely potential there: a postcard-worthy beach (if it was cleaned up) and a really moving history. They’d have to do something about the traffic though. It’s really awful.

It’s such a shame Badagry isn’t being used as a tourist hotspot. There is so much potential there. The history about the slave trade just makes my stomach churn! Thanks for sharing.

Yes, I suppose so.