BADAGRY & NIGERIA'S PLACE OF NO RETURN
I was in West Africa during the Year of the Return. By now, you may have read a recap of my time in Accra, Ghana. 2019 was symbolic as it marks 400 years since the first enslaved Africans arrived in the United States.
It was surreal to visit Badagry, Nigeria’s Place of No Return. Before that visit, I knew of Badagry, but I didn’t know much of its significance to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Badagry is a coastal town in Lagos State, southwestern Nigeria. Located between Lagos and Seme, the border town in Benin Republic, Badagry held many ports and, eventually, offices for British colonialists who took over Nigeria. Many of Badagry’s residents trace their ancestry to modern-day Nigeria and Benin Republic. People were captured from various parts of Nigeria and the then, Dahomey Kingdom (now Benin Republic).
Most of the details I knew about the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade were about the Middle Passage, the western slave trades, Jim Crow, abolition, and the Civil Rights movements. Basically, everything after enslaved West Africans were captured on African soil by other Africans and sold to slavery. It wasn’t until this visit to Badagry that I learned about the slave trade on African soil.
I remember learning about historic West African kingdoms in primary and secondary school in Nigeria. Still, those history lessons eliminated a lot about the slave trade on the Nigerian side of the Atlantic. So, the visit to Badagry was enlightening, elucidating, and emotional.
I joined the LosLifeStyleCo., a travel experience curator in Lagos, Nigeria, for the excursion to Badagry. I was part of a group of Nigerians and African Americans, and together, we toured the Badagry slave museum and walked to the point of no return. Also, we hiked along the exact path that led to the slave ships and Badagry’s point of no return. The experience was quite life-altering. I learned about the territorial wars and battles that were power struggles and slave raids. I also learned how the trade of enslaved Africans was conducted at the exact locations where more people were sold to slavery than anywhere else in the world.
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Badagry’s slave museum is holds a trove of information about a time in Nigeria’s history that is often overlooked. The Badagry museum is home to several relics from the slave trade including shackles, trade items, weapons of mass destruction and punishment. Also, the area is home to many historians and descendants of the rulers of that time with direct knowledge of some of what transpired during the slave trade and also, stories of some of the courageous people who became abolitionists and joined forces with others to stop the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
This statute is on the museum grounds and is a reminder of the time people were enslaved and also abolition movements.
Some of the shackles that were used to capture and bind people during those times.
These are some items that were traded for human lives. At that time, Nigeria’s currency was cowrie shells. This was useless to slave traders from the West. So they traded gin, umbrellas, weapons, mirrors and other items for people.
A cannon gun was exchanged for about one hundred people. At that time, a lot of territorial battles happened and these weapons were used to conquer other kingdoms and acquire land. It is also how people were captured and sold.
These shackles were used around the necks to hold people in captivity.
Barracoon is a portugese word for prisons. Before people were led to the slave ships, they were held in baracoons. This place is named for Oba seriki William Abass who was sold into slavery to Brazilian merchant who returned him to Badagry. He participated in the trade himself but his grandson was later a major abolitionist who ended slave trading in Badagry.
This well has existed since 1847 and it is the well that many enslaved persons drank from before walking to the Point of No return
This is the burial site for the grandson of the late Chief who will become an abolitionist and end slave trades in Badagry,
The beginning of the walk to the Atlantic Ocean and Point of No Return
This well contained a potion that enslaved persons drank. It is said to have erased their memories and made them docile during the Trans-Atlantic journey that took them to worlds unknown.
Our group walks to the Point of No Return. There is a memorable in the works to honor the memories of people who were lost to the slave trade via this location.
May the souls of the ancestors lost to these waters continue to guide and strengthen us. I was grateful that I could turn around and walk away unlike many others. It is my hope that we can make them proud by living the lives they were denied and standing up to hatred and slavery of any kind.