The symbol reminds offenders of the uncompromising nature of the law. It however discourages all forms of slavery.

• adinkra symbols guide

Last weekend, we took our first road trip. The destination was Cape Coast, Kakum National Park and Elmina, a couple hours west of Accra.

Elmina was quite a center of trading during the era of colonialism. This area was known as the Gold Coast. The castle at Elmina, built by the Portuguese in the late fifteenth century, was eventually captured by the Dutch in 1637. Obtaining gold became progressively more difficult; by 1703, the governor of Elmina was petitioning Amsterdam to allow him to abandon the gold trade in favor of trade in human beings, aka the slave trade.

Our tour guide takes through the different parts of the castle. Large, windowless storerooms were used as the holding area for female slaves on one side of the castle. The men were kept in another part of the castle. The guides leads us into these rooms, through doorways so low that we all must crouch down, to the final holding room, which looks out on the beach through a tiny doorway. Through this doorway, the slaves where brought to the waiting boats, which would bring them out to the ships that would make the transatlantic voyage. The guide calls it "the door of no return." But I think the gate that serves as the entrance to the castle is probably a better candidate for such a designation.

As we turn back and exit through the storerooms, a black couple, possibly African-American, are standing in the middle; he holds her as she heaves great sobs. I so want to cry with her, but my tears for the victims of this barbarism would be mixed with that illogical yet real sense of guilt, knowing that my forebearers were on the other end of this commercial transaction. Let the descendants of the victims take center stage here.

I'm in Ghana, occasionally frustrated with lack of running water or electricity. Elmina is a needed dose of perspective. These captives were kept in purposefully abject conditions, the theory being that only the strong (and thus more valuable) would survive. This calculus applied to those who made it onto the boats. According to our guide, if a ship arrived in the American colonies with half its human cargo still alive, that was considered a good percentage.

Unsurprisingly, sexual exploitation is part of the scenario. The governor of the castle would choose women from his balcony overlooking the courtyard onto which the storerooms opened. In this courtyard, you can look up and see where he would have stood. Up in the governor's quarters, you can look down on the women's holding pens as he would have done. Pointing down to the courtyard, someone makes a joke. I wonder that someone can tour this place and still think that there could be something humorous about what was done and suffered here.

Slavery is a bit more real to me now, yet I am still, in some ways, incredulous. I still can't imagine how any person could want to inflict this on another. Being forced to confront the reality is not the stuff of a carefree tourist jaunt. I know that I feel more than a little awkward with this visit sandwiched in between an excursion to a national park and lunch at a first-class beach resort. I still have that feeling. I don't want to forget it, either.

(Photos: Elmina Castle, from the road; the gate and moat, entrance to the castle, with hundreds of fishing boats in the inlet in the distance; the "gate of no return", less than 100 yards from the beach, which has expanded since the castle was first built; the courtyard of the "female dungeons", directly beneath the governor's balcony.)