Assin Manso (C/R) Aug. 2, GNA - About forty African-Americans who attended the Emancipation Day celebration at Assin Manso on Friday, shed tears after they had been shown for the first time, the river in which their ancestors had their last bath before they were sent to the slave market.
They washed their legs, hands and faces in the river in memory of their ancestors. Among them was Bishop Warrew Shivers, the great grandson of Samuel Carson, whose remains was re-interred in the town in July 31, 1998.
The theme for the Day was "emancipation, our heritage, our strength"
In attendance were the Minister of Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital City, Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, the Central Regional Minister, Mr. Isaac Edumadze, government officials and district chief executives from the Central Region.
Wreaths were laid on the tombs of Carson and Crystal. Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey laid one on behalf of the government and people of Ghana while Barima Kwame Nkyi XII; paramount chief of Assin Apimanim traditional area laid one on behalf of chiefs of the country. Mr. Kofi Metel a Jamaican, laid one on behalf of Africans in the Diaspora, Mrs. Annie Hall from the Caribbean laid one for the Caribbean Diaspora, with Bishop Warrew Shivers laying one on behalf of Carson family, while Miss Rita Kyei of the Assin Manso Secondary School also laid one for the Youth of Africa.
In his welcoming address, Barima Kwame Nkyi appealed to the African-Americans to help the traditional council in its efforts to build museums in the form of those at Baltimore, in the US and Merseyside, Liverpool, in the United Kingdom.
He said this would provide the congenial atmosphere for visitors and researchers to reflect on the important subject of slavery and African history.
