Goree Island in Senegal

Dr. Hemmy asked the student’s in the Study Abroad Program to expound on what we know about slavery via what we’ve learned through history, school, and our perceptions. My personal view of slavery is that it was an inhumane, hateful, and exploitive series of events that occurred in our history, resulting in psychological and mental damage can still be seen in people of African descent. Hundreds of thousands of people were taken from their families¸ and homes and forced into servitude. The rest is history I don't think I need to repeat known knowledge, no one group of people has the right to enslave and or force their opinions on another group of people. As a child my parents always enforced the importance of being proud of the fact that I ‘am a descendant of Africa (I don't like using the term "African American" because Africa is a continent and not a country). I grew up in South Carolina and I remember visiting the slave markets in Charleston and feeling a connection and a sense of sadness, I would hear stories about Goree Island but I never thought I would ever get the opportunity to visit there. Once in Africa when my group and I were on the boat I remember telling Dr. Hemmy "This is such a beautiful island! I would never want to leave." and Dr. Hemmy said she wanted to know how I would feel at the end of the day after the tour. When we toured the slave house I did not expect myself to get as emotional as I did (I'm a cry baby)¸ as we toured the small impersonal stone holding cells the reality of what some of the inhumane conditions that my ancestors had to endure set in mentally. Standing in the door way of no return was honestly the most haunting experience. The island is beautiful, the people there are nice and hard working and I feel as if that experience has changed my thought process and I have a deeper connection to my heritage. 
Asya