Ghana has granted citizenship to hundreds of African Americans

Both Keachia Bowers and Damon Smith used to live in Florida. In 2023, they left everything behind and settled in Ghana.

There, among a growing number of returnees like themselves, they feel they belong.

Along with 522 other members of the global black diaspora, Bowers and Smith received Ghanaian nationality at a ceremony in November.

The Ghanaian government has encouraged reconnection with its diaspora through a programme called Beyond the Return, which it launched in 2019.

That year, Ghana commemorated the 400th anniversary of the arrival of African slaves in the United States. Ghana was one of the main departure points for the transatlantic slave trade.

Beyond the Return is primarily an economic programme aimed at attracting investment from the diaspora, but for many others with a similar story to that of Ms Bowers and her family, reconnecting with their roots remains a key motivation.

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Dejiha Gordon, another American-Ghanaian citizen who moved to Ghana in 2019 and has since opened a Jamaican food truck, agrees.

“It just feels good to be, to have a connection to an African country as an African-American, as a Black American, right? Because back in America, we don’t have anything to trace our roots to but Africa. And to have that connection here, I feel like I’ve done something right,” she said.