Gambia Tourist Support
Roots - Slavery Trail
Northern Bank
'ROOTS' brought many Black Americans back to The Gambia in search of their past, each year the 'Roots Festival' attracts more.
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Published
by
Doubleday & Company
The book (1976) a Pulitzer prize winner, was made into
a TV serial.
The book is still stunning readers and the TV drama is well over due a
re-run
The author Alexander Haley 1921 - 1992
This review from a reader in
London, England
2 July, 1999
One of the best books I have
ever read.
I could not put this book down. I wish I had taken the time to read this
book earlier in my life! It tells a wonderful tale of Kunte Kinte, an
African man who is stolen from his African tribe in Ghana (Gambia actually)
and made a slave in the 'new world.' I loved the story, even though it
was one of the saddest stories I had ever read. By the end of the book
I felt like I knew Kunte and his whole family extremely well. It's great
when you read a book and it 'stays with you' for weeks afterwards. I feel
that way about 'Roots.' It really is a great book, one which left me with
a great feeling of sadness for what Kunte's family (and so many others!)
went through, but also with a feeling of hope for the future. The book
is beautifully written. The description of Africa was lovely. If you're
considering this book, you really should buy it.
Once in a while, someone says or does something that changes other peoples feelings about the world around them.
In the late 1970's the TV serialisation of Alex Haley's book 'Roots' was screened and viewed by 130 million people in the USA alone. I can still vividly remember parts of it and my overall and lasting impression was, the sheer disgust that greed for money could turn man into seller of man.
In 1993, a year after his death, the literal truth of the Roots lineage was exposed as being false. But slavery happened, Roots was a novel rather than history but it portrayed the life of slavery in a way that was accessible to the world.
The fact that Kunta Kinte was not Alex Haley's ancestor was meaningless to me, he was a young man captured and sold into slavery, he was someone's ancestor - this was a story that was as true as many of the stories in the bible, it was of a people sold into slavery.
All the tour operators provide a Roots trail. It involves a ferry crossing from Banjul to Barra (worthwhile just as an experience in it own right) followed by a trip 25km to Jufureh, a village mentioned by Haley as the home of Kunte Kinte and one most certainly affected by the slave trade, due to its very close proximity with Albreda only 500 metres away.
Some visit Bakalarr School and the Village Women’s Horticultural Scheme on their way to Juffureh and Albreda.
Albreda was first built by the French in 1681 as a fortified slaving station, allowing small boats to take slaves out to the waiting ships. A local museum (20D entrance) holds a small exhibition about slavery on the Gambia river. Albreda was a destination for many slaves who could claim freedom upon reaching the flag pole in the village square.
The Fort on James Island was build in 1651 and has been witness to much of the turbulent history of the Gambia river region. Sacked and rebuild on numerous occasions, this fort was finally abandoned by the English in late 18th century. It can be visited from Albreda, but this is by private arrangement as there are not enough boats to take a 'tour lorry' full of tourists. It is better to go it alone with a Gambian friend or host. Or take a river tour there from Banjul.
Some operators include a visit to Fort Bullen, (built by the British in 1826 to assist in protecting the new colony of Bathurst (Banjul) across the river) if there is time before the ferry home to Banjul.
We think it is well worth the trip.
Slavery still exists in the world, in a variety of forms, but there can be few forms as moving as the experience of the organised and official trade that moved an estimated 10 million Africans from West African to the Americas and the rest of the world during the 300 years existence of the trade.
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For more information on slavery see The Gambia > Slaves
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