Year of Return

About Year of Return, Ghana 2019 The “Year of Return, Ghana 2019” was a major landmark marketing campaign targeting the African – American and Diaspora Market to mark 400 years of the first enslaved African arriving in Jamestown Virginia.

The Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture led the project in collaboration with the Office of Diaspora Affairs at the Office of the President, the Panafest Foundation and the Adinkra Group of USA. The Year of Return sort to make Ghana the focus for millions of African descendants reacting to their marginalisation by tracing their ancestry and identity. By this, Ghana became the beacon for African people living on the continent and the diaspora.

The United States Congress had 2018 passed an Act H.R. 1242 – 400 Years of African-American which was in itself a historically significant milestone. Ghana being the gateway to Africa capitalised on its unique position as the location for 75 percent of the slave dungeons built on the west coast of Africa. The favourable government policy of making it a national priority to extend a hand of welcome back home to Africans in the diaspora served as the catalyst for the campaign.

Currently, there are still numerous imposing European forts and castles harbouring harrowing reminders of an intense and complex history of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade in our land over centuries. This on its own has made Ghana the focus for millions of African descendants.