/sanKOfa/: going back to find what you’ve left behind, to inform your future. Memory as a vital source of knowledge and wisdom
It was a moment that will go down in history. On 9 May, 2024, on a beach promenade in southwest Barbados, several hundred people — most dressed in white — milled around waiting for a plaque to be unveiled. The Honourable Mia Mottley, the nation’s prime minister, was about to do the honours. “If ever there was a time for solidarity and justice,” she declared, “it is now.” A drummer drummed; an elder poured a libation to the ancestors; the crowd cheered.
This was the day Barbados welcomed home hundreds of Liberian citizens, 159 years after their forebears had sailed from its shores into the unknown. Billed as the Sankofa Pilgrimage, the event was undoubtedly a first in the Caribbean, and a defiant renunciation of the brutal era of slavery and colonialism.
In 1821, the American Colonization Society established a new colony on the west coast of Africa to rehome freed slaves and free-born Blacks. It was named Liberia in 1824, and gained its independence in 1847, touted as “the first free black republic”.
The fledgling nation, recognising that more settlers were needed, encouraged emigration from the diaspora. In 1864, a proclamation offered newcomers grants of free land: 25 acres per family, or 10 acres for an individual; plus immediate citizenship.
In Barbados, an “URGENT APPEAL” went out from a group called The Barbados Company for Liberia. “The Island of Barbados,” it declared, “has a population of nearly one hundred and sixty thousand persons, of whom one hundred and thirty-six thousand are coloured. It will readily be perceived, therefore, that this class of its population is excessive, and the natural consequence is EMIGRATION!”
“This class” of the population responded with alacrity; competition was fierce to gain passage on the brigantine Cora — ironically, a former slave ship — which sailed from Barbados on 6 April, 1865, carrying 291 official passengers, and mysteriously arrived in Liberia 34 days later with 346, including stowaways.
A smaller group of 16 would-be settlers, impatient and unsure whether they would be chosen to go on the Cora, had left two months earlier on a British government ship headed for neighbouring Sierra Leone.
The Bajan emigrants embodied a wide range of skills, from planters to blacksmiths; shipwrights to seamstresses; teachers, joiners, butchers and bootmakers. Highly regarded for their education and industriousness, many families eventually rose to prominence, producing three of the country’s presidents, as well as attorneys general, secretaries of state, and university presidents. Barbados became a distant memory.
Until the Sankofa Pilgrimage. This is where Ambassador Lorenzo Witherspoon picked up the story. Born in Liberia, the ambassador — now retired — has lived on several continents, and worked at various United Nations agencies.
Intrigued by his own Barbadian heritage, and having written a lengthy paper thereon, he met with Prime Minister Mottley and members of her Cabinet in 2021 for a 15-minute chat that stretched to 45. By the end, he recalled, “A magical thing happened.”
The prime minister was “so excited” by his research, she had a brainwave. She wanted to bring the descendants of those 346 emigrants back to Barbados. “I want to welcome them home,” she said. “I want to let them know that they are Bajans, as far as we are concerned. We are all Bajans.”
And, just like that, Witherspoon had a mission: to create a homecoming like never before. It took two years of organisation and effort. From his own distant home, he oversaw a tight team of 12 in Barbados, tasked with everything from logistics to fundraising. “It was an intense labour of love,” he declared. “There’s nothing singular in my life that comes close to what I’ve done here.”
The results exceeded everyone’s expectations: 422 Liberians — hailing from at least four continents, most from the United States — descended on Barbados for a week of activities that included sightseeing, genealogical exploration, an academic colloquy, and business networking.
“I had to come, to pay homage to my ancestors,” explained Mona Diggs, a resident of Monrovia. “This is wonderful. My parents always talked about their Bajan roots.”
There was a fireside chat with former Liberian president (and Nobel Prize winner) Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; a reception hosted by Prime Minister Mottley; and a let-down-your-hair party night at Barbados’ legendary Oistins fish market. The Bajan government funded everything except airfare and accommodation.
“I was super-satisfied [with how it turned out],” Witherspoon said. “Many people didn’t expect it to be so grand, so intense, so much fun. It has given people on both sides a sense of identity; it has helped us understand that not only do we have a common beginning, we have a commonality among us, because we are one.”
He has established a global foundation, The African Bajan Heritage Initiative (TABHI), to continue the work — “It’s a movement now”— of planning a follow-up pilgrimage from Barbados to Liberia, hopefully by 2026.
The Barbadian side was equally happy with the event. “I think we achieved great success,” declared Senator Shantal Munro-Knight, a minister responsible for culture in the prime minister’s office. The Division of Culture was a core part of the planning committee, and the Archives Department organised one of the signature moments, a Genealogical Marketplace, where the visitors could trace their Bajan roots.
“Barbados has the second-oldest transatlantic slave records in the world, second only to the UK,” she explained. “People come from everywhere to trace their histories.”
For Munro-Knight, the pilgrimage bore not only emotional and spiritual fruit, but also practical ones. For the first time, bilateral arrangements were created with the Liberian government, opening possibilities for business and cultural exchanges between the two nations — in music, fashion, tourism, and reciprocal exchanges of knowledge.
“Barbados is a relatively new republic,” she pointed out. “We have to connect with the diaspora. We [in the government] have a view that we should look to the African continent for relationships, not just the US.”
But, perhaps even more important, Munro-Knight added, the Sankofa Pilgrimage gave Barbadians “the opportunity to share our story in our own words, in our own way. On the one side, we always hear about the cruelties of the past; but we are also resilient.”
And indeed, it is a story that Barbados continues to tell in 2025, where the theme of togetherness and community continues in We Gatherin’, a year-round celebration of the island’s history and culture, in real time.
Each month highlights the uniqueness of one of Barbados’ 11 parishes — from sports to food, music to storytelling, art exhibitions to band concerts — with a nationwide celebration slated for December. “Come ‘long home”, the We Gatherin’ campaign urges the Bajan diaspora; and really, who could resist?
Mary Cummings Johnson (Liberia): “I’m 87. My son gave me this trip as a Mother’s Day gift, because it was a historic event. I never knew I was Bajan, until my son (a videographer) saw a wall here with our name, and realised that my roots are here. I feel so excited; I hope I can come back. Maybe every year.”