DOORS OF RETURN

The original Doors of No Return are powerful symbols associated with the transatlantic slave trade that occurred in Africa from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Let me provide you with more information:

1. House of Slaves (Maison des Esclaves):

   • The House of Slaves, located on Gorée Island off the coast of Dakar, Senegal, is a museum and memorial dedicated to the victims of the Atlantic slave trade.
   • The building’s Door of No Return is a narrow doorway through which enslaved African people were loaded onto ships bound for the Americas.
   • Historians differ on the exact number of slaves held in this building, but visitors from Africa, Europe, and the Americas continue to recognize it as a significant place to remember the human toll of African slavery. The very beginning of the African Diaspora created by enslavement.

2. Living Conditions:

   • The House of Slaves was constructed in 1776 and became a holding center for enslaved Africans awaiting export.
   • Conditions inside the building were harrowing imprisoned individuals perished before even reaching the ships.
   • Families were separated both within the House and after boarding the ships, as they were often sent to different locations.
   • Young girls were held separately and paraded in the courtyard for traders and enslavers to choose them for sex. If they became pregnant, they were allowed to remain on the island until giving birth.

3. Symbolism:

   • The Door of No Return represents the final point of departure for enslaved Africans, beyond which they would never return to their homeland.
   • Once slaves walked through this door, they faced the long and horrendous journey across the Atlantic to the Americas.
   • Guarded by slave masters, this small, narrow doorway allowed only one person at a time to pass through²2.

The Door of No Return serves as a haunting reminder of the immense suffering endured by those who were forcibly taken from Africa during the transatlantic slave trade.

The DOORS OF RETURN are meant to symbolize for the descendants of these same Africans a willing effort to return to all that was forcibly taken from our ancestors and from us. These doors whether they be decor are actual doors on or in our homes are meant to symbolize our daily walk back to our African knowledge of ourselves and our peoples throughout the vast African Diaspora that exists in the Americas, Africa, & Asia.