Obama slave Africa The Maison des Esclaves was a gateway for
slave trade in past centuries (WikiCommons)  The Maison des
Esclaves, an infamous slave house off the Senegalese coast, has
received many influential visitors, including Nelson Mandela,
Bill Clinton and Pope John Paul II. However, the arrival of
Barack Obama on Goree Island holds a particular significance as
the president's family's ancestors were among the thousands of
Africans who were taken in chains from compounds along West
Africa's 'Slave Coast' to the plantations of America.  Obama was
to visit the Slave House museum, accompanied by his wife
Michelle and their daughters, on the first of a six-day official
trip to Africa.  The two-storey house on an 80-acre island in
the harbour of the Senegalese capital of Dakar served as a
gateway for the slave trade in past centuries. Designated by
Unesco as a World Heritage Site, it stands as a reminder of
slavery's horrors.  Maison des Esclaves Obama The "Door of No
Return" at the House of Slaves on Goree