Cape Coast Castle
Cape Coast, Ghana
Duration: 1hr 15min - 1hr 45min
Session Goals:
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To learn more about the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Cape Coast
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To reflect on all learnings throughout this resource
Materials Needed:
Introduction (1min)
Unlike Elmina, Cape Coast Castle was originally built to hold African captives for trade across the Atlantic. Some of the dungeons at Cape Coast Castle could hold up to 1000 people.
Play: Cape Coast (10min)
TRIGGER WARNING:
This video may be triggering and contains sensitive subject matter. It describes extreme physical violence, sexual abuse and assault. Students may want to unpack feelings that may come up for them outside of the classroom. Here is a list of resources that can be shared.
Video Debrief (15min)
The Cape Coast tour is devastating in many ways like the Elmina Castle Tour was. It's horrifying to learn the many ways in which this castle was explicitly built for the assault and torture of millions of people.
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Is anyone open to sharing how they feel right now?
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What was similar or different about the Cape Coast tour in comparison to the Elmina tour? (i.e. construction of the dungeons and pathways, "floating coffins", Door of No Return, etc.)
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Yoshi and Jelly close the clip with the following statements.
Yoshi says, "We learned about real African-American history... The British, they came and did their thing and brought the Africans to America and now we came to the place where they shipped our people from, where they stole us from."
Jelly says, "It broke me down mentally, but it also prepared me mentally. And to know that we got to go through this, I feel like there is nothing we could do but to teach."
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How do you think this journey impacted Jelly and Yoshi overall?
Activity: Head, Heart, Hand (20 - 40min)
This educational resource took it's participants to three parts of the world without haven't to step foot on a plane. The journey began with the Vaults and the Slave Burials in Savannah Georgia. Next was an overnight visit on Sapelo Island in the Hog Hammock community. The cast travelled back to Canada to North Buxton, Ontario to visit one of the first Black Canadian settlements and then travelled across the Atlantic ocean to the historic Elmina and Cape Coast castles in Ghana. Through Jelly and Yoshi's journey, we learned about parts of our history from elders passionate about perserving and passing this information on.
While devastating and sometimes hard to digest, this history is important to teach, not just because of the horrific things that happened, but because of the ability of these stolen Africans to withstand and survive it all. One should be proud to be a descendant of these people.
The Head, Heart, Hand placemat provides students with an opportunity to reflect on how they've been personally impacted by this journey and what they might do with the knowledge and insight gained from this resource.
Share placemat. Students can make point form notes under headings, draw, make a collage or all of the above. Encourage them to be creative!
Reflect and Share (30 - 45min)
Have students share Head, Heart, Hand placemats.
