Historians claim 'Door of No Return' is a hoax

[Jazzy]

When President Barack Obama visited the 'Door of No Return' on a Senegalese island on Thursday, he believed he was looking at where Africans were shipped across the Atlantic into slavery. But not all may be as it first seemed.

Historians claim that the entrance of Slave House on Goree Island where Obama posed for a photo opportunity was most likely only used for disposing of garbage.

Historians point out that the Atlantic Ocean at Goree Island is both shallow and rocky, which would have made it difficult for a slave ship to load its grim cargo at that point.

The role of the island in the slave trade has long been disputed, though it has become an important symbol and emotional reminder of the horrific events of the past.

In the 1990s, Philip Curtin, an emeritus professor of history at Johns Hopkins University and the author of two dozen books on the Atlantic slave trade, became one of the first scholars to question the authenticity of the Slave House.

In a discussion on an online forum for historians, he said he believed the 'hoax' was perpetrated by the charismatic Joseph Ndiaye.

Ndiaye was the museum's first curator, and he ushered generations of visitors through the house, recounting the alleged horrors perpetrated there with theatrical pomp.

Ndiaye initially claimed that 20 million had passed through the house, upping it to 40 million by the time Curtin visited in 1992, four times the total figure of slaves exported from Africa overall.

The debate over the house's place in history has become emotionally charged and politically treacherous in Senegal, due to the high-profile role the museum plays in attracting tourists to the island, including celebrity visitors like Obama, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II and former U.S presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush.

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Hoax or not in your opinion? Please explain your reply.

 

[Evil Eye]

I wouldn't say hoax, more like fraud.
However, that shouldn't matter too much, this place is a symbol. Historians should care, everyone else can just consider what it stands for. The truth is not all that important.

 

[DrLeftover]

this is not news

that was widely reported in the eighties

But the 'racial industry' ... as well as the local tourist board... has a vested interest in perpetuating the myth