Remembering the past at Panafest

Three generations of Shivers traveled to Ghana in West Africa to take part in this year’s Panafest and Emancipation Day celebrations. Inwood residents Bishop Warren C. Shivers, Ilyassha Shivers and Elijah Shivers took a journey to discover the past. 

Panafest is a cultural event held in Ghana every two years for Africans and people of African decent. It takes place from the last week of July through the first week of August.

The focus of the festival is to enhance and promote unity. Emancipation Day is a event celebrated annually that commemorates the end of slavery. It was established in 1997, at a meeting in Ghana between the President of Ghana, Sonny Carson, his wife Mae, Bishop Shivers and Dr. Jerimiah C. Gaffney.

It was first celebrated in Ghana in 1998 when the remains of a enslaved African was brought back through the “Door of No Return.” This is where slaves were taken as they were led to the ships that took him away from their homeland.

Ghana is home to more than 75 slave castles or forts. One of the oldest is in Elmina. It was built in 1482 by the Portuguese. They were used to hold enslaved Africans until they were sent to the Caribbean and Americas.

For Bishop Shivers it was 20 years since his first trip. For Elijah, 7, it was his first time. “It is important to know who you are and where you come from,” Ilyassha Shivers, explained to his son.

There is a African proverb known as Sankoffa. It is depicted as a mythical bird that is flying forward but looking back. The meaning translates to — if you want to move ahead you must remember that which has taken place in the past.

The return of Africans to their native land has been chronicled throughout history. In the early part of the 20th century there was the Back to Africa movement, which was started by Marcus Garvey. It is said that one day there would be one who would return, some believe that one was Samuel Carson.

It was his remains that were returned and buried at Assin Mansu in Ghana. Carson is the great-grand uncle of activist Sonny Carson, who is related to Bishop Shivers, a Five Towns resident for more than 30 years.

Samuel Carson lived during the 1800s and was a runaway slave, which earned him the nickname “the runaway.” He served with the Marines in the Mexican-American War of 1846, and was killed in action. He and roughly 2000 other black war veterans of the time were interred unceremoniously at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

In 1926 the Navy disinterred 986 of those buried at the Navy Yard and removed them to Cypress Hills National Cemetery in Queens. The remains were released to the family ,bout that time the president of Ghana extended an invitation to the family to have “the runaway” receive final interment in that African nation.

The first Emancipation Day was one the greatest events to take place on the continent of Africa. “In these last  years, as a people we seem to have lost hold of the dreams that our forefathers had,” Bishop Shivers said.

As we travelled to Ghana to celebrate the 20 years since the first Emancipation Day celebration we look to help young people realize that there is more to life than their everyday surroundings. This trip was a beginning of a rebirth retracing our roots.