December 16, 2024
Benin is one of the few African countries investing in offering citizenship to descendants of enslaved people.
Benin’s president, Patrice Talon, passed a law in September 2024 granting citizenship to those who can trace their origins to the slave trade, part of the country’s attempt to come to terms with their involvement in the slave trade.
According to the Associated Press, Benin is one of the few African countries investing in offering citizenship to descendants of enslaved people, along with Ghana, which invited black Americans “come homein 2019 as part of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in North America in 1619.
The way the law works is that anyone over the age of 18 who does not already hold African citizenship and can provide proof that an ancestor was deported through the slave trade anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa is eligible to become a Beninese citizen.
In Benin, however, the olive branch has additional significance, as Benin was often a port of departure for many Africans during the slave trade; About 1.5 million enslaved people were sent from the Bight of Benin, an area that includes present-day Benin, Togo, and part of present-day Nigeria.
At Ouidah on the coast of Benin, nearly a million Africans were forced onto ships and sent to destinations such as the United States, Brazil, and the Caribbean.
The city is also home to most of Benin’s memorials, such as the Door of No Return and the Tree of Oblivion.
Benin authorities will accept a variety of materials, including DNA tests, certified testimonies and family records.
One of the websites accepted by the country is “Anchoukaj,” which translates to “Affiliation” in Antillean Creole, used by Nadezh Anelka, a 56-year-old travel agent from the French territory of Martinique, a Caribbean island.
According to Anelka, upon arriving in Benin, people felt familiar to her.
“A lot of them reminded me of my grandparents, the way they wore the headscarf, the way they behaved, the way they thought,” she told the AP.
Anelka’s feelings were shared by actor Samuel L. Jackson and his wife, Latanya Richardson, who recounted Jackson’s journey to Ben in the documentary series Enslaved.
As Richardson recounted The Guardian: In 2020, “I see some aspects of their culture that he naturally inhabits in his DNA. He loves the sea – he always did – only to find out that these people (the Benga tribe) are people of the sea, they are on the edge of the sea are people. It’s a joy for me to see him in that environment.”
In order for Anelka’s citizenship to be validated, she will have her application verified, receive a temporary citizenship certificate that is valid for three years, and to complete the process, she must stay in Benin at least once during the three years to become a citizen.
Although Anelka does not believe that she will become Beninese in the eyes of the people of Benin, she goes through the process mainly to connect with her heritage.
“I know I will never be completely Beninese. I will always be considered a foreigner,” Anelka told AP. “But I am doing it for my ancestors. It’s a way to restore my legacy, a way to get compensation.”
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