Their journey included a walk in the footsteps of African slaves on the one kilometre sandy path across Gberefu Island to the beach. Each year, thousands of black Americans make pilgrimages to Ghana and Senegal, where crumbling slave dungeons have been turned into healthy tourist industries. Butler's group, however, was among the first organised American tours in recent memory to Nigeria, where up to one-third of all slaves bound for the Americas may have gone through Gberefu Island and the nearby port of Badagary. Butler's tears were partly out of frustration that most slaves' individual histories have been lost, she said. About all she knows is that her ancestors came from Africa.
Poverty is obviously a result of slavery.
We will return with this message. For many of the visitors, the voyage was a chance to make a personal connection with Africa. I am home. Others in the group who have visited Africa before, like Michelle Kourouma, executive director of the National Conference of Black Mayors, said she hoped to spread understanding of how slavery dehumanised blacks and whites alike. The choice of turbulent Nigeria as a destination gave the Americans a glimpse of urban African life at its most difficult and raw.