The dark historical era of the Slave Trade saw many of our people, and those of other African lands, taken by force across the seas to the plantations of America and the Caribbean, creating the biggest diaspora the world has ever seen.
"It is believed 16% of the total slaves taken to the United States between 1690 and 1807 were from Ghana alone. Between 1710 and 1769, 16% of the slaves required by the State of Virginia and 13.3% of slaves needed by South Carolina were from Ghana". (taken from the Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery and published in the Daily Graphic of February 16, 1999 in Ghana).
The infamous Slave Trade is now of the past, but citizens of many states around the world still acknowledge and treasure their ancestral links with Ghana, a situation they very much wish to explore and experience. UNESCO in collaboration with other donor agencies is assisting Ghana to document and trace this period of history through a Trans-Atlantic Slave Route Project.
Ghana welcomes her lost children from around the world and has instituted a Kinship Research programme to assist those in the diaspora, especially from the USA and the Caribbean, to explore their ancestry in history and from Ghana.
The George Padmore Library, the Du Bois Memorial Centre and the
University of Ghana at Legon all in Accra, are rich repositories of the chronicles of the diaspora. In these, and other institutions, manuscripts and records provide researchers with a wealth of knowledge. Expert researchers and elders from all the ethnic groups in the country are willing to assist the serious explorer.
To assist serious researcher the following organisations may be able to provide important information:
The Du Bois Memorial Centre for Pan African Culture
P. O. Box C975
Accra, Ghana.
Tel: 233-21 776502
Fax: 233-21 772031
The Balme Library
University of Ghana at Legon
P. O. Box 25 Legon
Accra, Ghana.
Tel: 233-21 220402
The National Museum of Ghana
P. O. Box M.40
Accra, Ghana.
Tel: 233-21 221633
The National Commission for Culture
P. O. Box 3356
Accra, Ghana.
Tel: 233-21 662581
In den dunkelsten Zeiten unser Geschichte wurden viele unsere Leute und anderer afrikanischer Laender, mit Gewalt entfuehrt und auf die amerikanischen und karibischen Plantagenverschifft. Es wird angenommen, dass allein 16% aller Sklaven, welche zwische 1690 und 1707 in die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika gebracht wurden, aus dem Gebiet des heutigen Ghanas kamen.
Zwischen 1710 und 1769 benoetigte der Staat Virginia 16% und 13,3% der Sklaven in
South Carolina waren aus Ghana.