ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — A monument dubbed ‘The Door of Return’ is to be built in Accompong Town, St Elizabeth, as an emblem of African renaissance.

Maroon investor, Timothy McPherson, made the announcement at the Maroon Festival Friday, which was held to mark the 279th anniversary of the signing of the peace treaty between the Maroons and colonial Britain.

“Two and a half weeks ago I was in Ghana and finalised the agreement with the Monument and Museums Board of Ghana, for building what we call ‘The Door of Return’,” he said. “This agreement has created a situation in which Fort Kormantin, now known as Fort Amsterdam, has been dedicated to the Maroon community in recognition of our ancestral battles and victories against those who sought to take away our humanity.”

Fort Kormantin is a “slave castle” in Cape Coast, Ghana, in which captured slaves destined for Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean were held.

‘The Door of Return’ will serve as the opposite of ‘The Door of No Return’ — the gateway through which millions of Africans were pushed to be shipped to a life of slavery in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, McPherson said.

McPherson pointed out that ‘The Door of Return’ will have two components to it: “One domiciled in Ghana and the second one domiciled in Accompong”.

“This will become Africa’s largest renaissance monument. It will be promoted within the African Union. All African member States will be asked to endorse ‘The Door of Return’. This door of return, this monument will be the emblem of African renaissance, of African rebirth because our ancestors so loved their tradition and their culture that they were willing to fight and die for it and those who claim maroon identity also love our cultural tradition that we are willing to fight to sustain it going into the future,” he said.

McPherson added that the monument would become a centre point of driving investors from the African continent into the Diaspora.

“That means if you are living in the African American community and looking for African investors to invest in diasporic communities, you can utilise ‘The Door of Return’,” he said.

Kimberley Hibbert