Phespirit goes to Gambia
Kotu     November 2003

DEATH OR FREEDOM

Behind this old British cannon in the village of Albreda a pole marks the spot where the original "Freedom Flagpole" once stood.

Legend says that if any slave escaped from James Island, swam across to Albreda and touched this flagpole they would be granted freedom. Few made it; countless more died trying. Such is the cruelty of empires.

WITH BINTA KINTE

Alex Haley, in 1967, went to Juffureh where his "Roots" history was recited by the local oral historian, the late Kebba Kanji Fofana.

Phespirit, in 2003, went to Juffureh and met Binta Kinte, widow of Fofana and a seventh generation descendent of Kunta Kinte.

She's looking well for a 90-something.

THE EROSION OF HISTORY

James Island is a sixth of the size it was in 1651 when Fort James was built to support European traders on the River Gambia. The Portugese, Courlanders, British and French have all held the island. For many slaves, it was their last contact with African soil.

Now the river is washing away the past and reclaiming this soil for Africa forever.