A book, titled, ‘Last Bath’, a pictorial presentation of the inhumane treatment meted out to victims of the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade, has been launched, in Accra, with a call on government and stakeholders, in education, to include books on African history in the country’s curriculum.
The Founding President of the Pan-African Museum, Mr. Kojo Yankah, made the call, adding that African history will give pupils and students the opportunity to acquire a broader understanding of their root.
About 50 kilometers north of Cape Coast, is Okyin River, in Assin Manso.
In this river, then a stream, slaves, transported from the Northern part of Ghana, were made to take their last bath, before they proceeded to the Cape Coast and Elmina Castles, for shipment to Europe.
The zeal and interest of Mr. Jeffery and Shaakira Edison, to visit such slave trade centres, encouraged them to document their experiences into a book – the ‘Last Bath’.
The forty-page book uses words, pictures and symbols to tell the historical reality and symbolism of the last bath, and the story of slavery, from the African perspective, depicting the emotions and knowledge that goes with the narrative.
The authors, Mr.& Mrs. Edison, said their visits to the slave dungeons made them imagine the experiences of their ancestors during the slave trade days, as though they were there too.
The Founding president of the Pan-African Museum, Mr. Kojo Yankah, and other guests, who graced the occasion suggested that books that relate to the history of Africa and its people are made available in schools, as well as to the larger public, for them to be acquainted with their history.
