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In chapter 5 of “Exchanging our country marks” Michael Gomez analyzes societal and political structures of Sierra Leonians prior to the slave trade, and their influence on early African American practices in America. Conflict with neighboring communities also directly influenced the populations that would be involved in the African diaspora and customs that would find their way to colonial America. Akan speakers from the southern half of the Gold Coast shared traits more similar than the diverse populations in Sierra Leone and accounted for the majority of Gold Coast captives sold into the slave trade. Sierra Leonians and Gold Coast Akan speakers were sold strategically once commodified in the Atlantic slave trade. Demand for labor fluctuated in the Americas, and Akan speakers from the Gold Coast were participants in the slave trade as well as victims. The Asante Empire in Africa during the 18th century were integrated into the Atlantic slave trade and sold both Sierra Leonians and Akan peoples from the gold coast. Under the Asante Empire previously egalitarian societies became patriarchal and traditional agricultural and hunting practices were replaced with seemingly more stable subsistence farming. Both Akan speakers and Sierra Leonians were held in high regard, at least in terms of production, due to their knowledge of, “rice, indigo, and cotton production.” (Gomez 104) Hunter Loya is correct when he writes, “These societies were comparable to European powers in their political organization.” Whether unified loosely by customs such as Sierra Leone, or under a more centralized authority such as the Akan people, these groups had complicated inter-communal relations that affected their response to expanding European colonization. A complex spiritual understanding of human relations to the earth, equal representation in their given societies and secrecy regarding, “the affairs of the organization,” were some of the influences the aforementioned African populations had once they reached destinations such as South Carolina, Georgia, and the West Indies.
-Vince Tursini