Ghana Pilgrims Meet in Charleston Ahead of Pilgrimage in 2027
On October 10 and 11, the diocese welcomed to Charleston pilgrimage participants traveling to Ghana with the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing in Atlanta. Pilgrimage leaders celebrated the unveiling of the altarpiece at Calvary Episcopal Church, created by visiting artist Graeme Mortimer Evelyn of the Foundation of Spirituality and Arts. As is noted in the article about the event, rooted in oral histories, archival research, and community engagement, the artwork honors Calvary’s faith, history, and resilience and connects its legacy to Charleston’s central role in the transatlantic slave trade.
Later that day, pilgrimage participants visited the Old Slave Mart Museum, a former slave auction site in downtown Charleston. The museum tells the story of chattel slavery and how thousands of enslaved people were sold in the area and taken to plantations across South Carolina. Participants also visited the International African American Museum, located at Gadsden’s Wharf, where enslaved people were brought ashore. The museum tells the story of slavery in America and South Carolina, as well as the remarkable history of the Gullah-Geechee community in the Lowcountry.
On Sunday, the group attended the Eucharist service at St. Mark’s Church in Charleston. The sermon, delivered by the church’s rector, the Rev. Michael Shaffer, focused on the Atlantic slave trade and the importance of making pilgrimages to places like Ghana to better understand Charleston’s significant role in the trade. During lunch, parishioner Minvera King taught the pilgrims about the Gullah-Geechee community, its culture, and Africanisms that survived slavery and were passed down through the Black community in the Lowcountry of South Carolina and Georgia. The group ended the day at Middleton Place, a rice plantation where enslaved people cultivated rice along the Ashley River and created the gardens and other greenery on the plantation.
Most of the pilgrims at this gathering were from our diocese, with a few from the dioceses of Newark and Oklahoma. Unfortunately, at the last moment, many pilgrims from the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta were unable to attend because of inclement weather caused by Hurricane Isaias. The group looks forward to rescheduling a larger gathering with all the pilgrims in the near future as they continue preparing for their trip to Ghana in April 2027.