HAIL TO THE CHIEF: First Lady Melania Trump spent part of Wednesday morning visiting Obama Hall in the Emintsimadze Palace in Ghana’s Cape Coast. A photo of President Obama, who visited the site during his first year in office, is hung in the lobby, according to a press pool report.
Trump was greeted with an “Awkwaaba” (Welcome) sign with a photo of her own likeness and name. She had traveled there to meet with Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, the chieftain of the regional Fante tribe.
The First Lady arrived to a flurry of Ghanaian and American flags outdoors. Yellow and purple sashes — meant to be signs of royalty and wealth — adorned the interiors. Girls played traditional horns, better known as antentebens. In an olive jacket, tan pants and chocolate brown stilettos, Trump appears to be maintaining an earthy palette thus far for her four-nation trip.
As is customary, the First Lady was seeking permission to visit the Cape Coast Castle, which served as an outpost to transfer slaves. Obama likened it to a Holocaust concentration camp.
With approval granted, Trump ditched her heels for flats, as there was some ground to cover. At what is believed to be the site in Ghana that routed the most slaves to the U.S., Trump asked multiple questions of museum director Kwesi Essel-Blantsa. She entered an area with a “Male Dungeon” sign and passed through what was known as “The Door of No Return.”
Afterward, before heading back to Accra, the First Lady said she would “never forget the incredible experiences and the stories she heard from the gentleman,” nor the dungeon, according to a pool report. “What happened so many years ago, it’s really a tragedy.”