We took a fifteen-minute boat ride out into the Gambia River to Kunta Kinteh Island. It was formerly called James Island and St Andrew's Island. The locals have really developed the Roots theme and history. If you remember, our ferry was named the Kunta Kinteh. At any rate, Kunta Kinteh Island was the embarkation point for Kunta Kinteh from West Africa to the Americas, never to return home.

Kunta Kinteh Island is a small island and now only used for tourism. It's in near complete disrepair but functioning actively for the tourist trade. I did like the old baobab trees.

The island holds significant historical importance for the interaction between Africans and Europeans. It was also strategically important for controlling the waterways of the Gambia River. Its been an important contact point for explorers and merchants going back in time. We prowled around the entire island.

Kunta Kinteh Island was important for controlling the river and trade from the interior of Gambia and the Atlantic Ocean. The island contained a fort back in those days. But today, the island is about one-sixth of the size it was when it was an active fort. They have stabilized it to maintain its presence for tourism. The cannons still remain on the island.

Then we took our boats back to Juffureh, where we had lunch at a nearby resort.

I still was annoyed by the fact that I wanted to learn about the slave trade from the African side. But the African slavery topic was covered minimally compared to the time dedicated to after the Europeans purchased the slaves and shipped them to the Americas. I found that somewhat of an evasion of their own history.

On our boat ride back to Juffureh, our local guide asked if anyone had any questions. I raised my hand and presented him with the following:

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that in the end of the movie "Roots," there was room for Kunta Kinteh and Fiddler in the boat. They end up escaping slavery and reach some city up north where they became free men. Then they got jobs, saved their money, and in five or ten years, they purchased passage on a ship to bring them back to Juffureh, right where we are today. That was always Kunta Kinteh's dream in the movie.

So my question is this: IF Kunta Kinteh had done all that and had actually gotten back right here to Juffureh, what would have prevented him from being captured again and getting sold into slavery again and being sent to America again?

Our local guide looked a little dejected. He said, "Nothing." He went on to say that Kunta Kinteh might be a little wiser about not getting caught but that the main thing would have been which tribe was dominant at the time. If it was Kunta's tribe, he would be fine. If it was another tribe, he might well be recaptured and resold into slavery.