Previous                                        Next

Door of No Return

These slave house images were created on Goree Island. This island, located just half a mile off the coast of Senegal, was the main transfer point for sending enslaved Africans to other parts of the world. Many African-Americans who visit the Slave House Museum today experience overwhelming feelings of grief, sadness, and anger. During our one­hour tour, I separated myself from the rest of the group and began photographing. I didn't experience the emotions many others felt that day. But later that night, as I drifted off to sleep, I had an experience I'll remember forever.

In this dream state, I was one of those terribly frightened Africans chained to several other terrified souls. I could smell the stench that filled the cells of the slave house. I felt the sweat from other trembling bodies as we huddled together fearing the worst. From near and far, I heard crying and moaning as the swollen eyes of my fellow captives desperately searched for the loved ones they once held close. Overwrought with grief, I lashed out at a slave trader. Then after a vicious lashing, I was thrown into a cell no more than 3 feet high and 3 feet wide. With my body painted with blood, sweat, and sand, I reached overhead to measure the confines of this hellish fate and let loose a horrifying scream.

  I awoke the next morning with my body full of the grief and sadness others must have felt the day before at Goree. For most of that day, I lay in the sun, grateful for the experience of my dream and for my full and free life. These slave house images will always serve as a reminder of that day on Goree.