“We went to Ghana to find sites of meaningful, enriching experience for our students, and we came away with much more than we could have imagined."
Walters and Christina Riehman-Murphy, reference and instruction librarian in University Libraries, visited villages and toured historic sites, 这些经历推动了与历史创伤的联系和对抗.
“埃尔米纳奴隶城堡之旅永远地改变了我,”里曼-墨菲说. “在那里,我站在被鲜血浸透的地板上,奴隶制从我在历史书上读到的东西,变成了一种发自内心的深刻认识, tears and excrement of West African peoples, I was standing on the sins of my ancestors, sins that cannot be reconciled by time alone. 我离开加纳的时候,留下了很多我个人认为值得回味的东西.”
As a woman of color with a vibrant Caribbean heritage, 直到经历了奴隶城堡,沃尔特斯才觉得自己与这些文化传统缺乏有意义的联系.
“看到我的祖先被关在残酷的牢房里,走过臭名昭著的‘不归之门’,在那里,奴隶们被迫登上船只,踏上横跨大西洋的旅程, were almost out-of-body experiences for me,” she said.
加纳埃尔米纳奴隶城堡的门上方写着“女奴隶地牢”."
Credit: Penn State
“As I navigated my own feelings at these sites, 我在想,这样的访问对我们的学生——黑人学生——会有多大的影响, absolutely — but equally powerful for all of our students,” Walters continued. 像奴隶城堡这样的遗址纪念了一段塑造了美国的经历,这种经历在我们的日常生活中回荡, lived experiences. 在美洲,非洲的存在存在于我们的音乐、语言和食物中.