Gore Island Book Review

Review: Goree Island: Island of No Return, Saga of the Signares by Richard Harrison Goree. Gold Leaf Press, Mt. Clemens, MI. 1996. Often times a search for family history can lead to confusing twists and turns or shocking revelations. In the case of Richard Goree, the search for his family’s past led to a novel with much important knowledge for the rest of the world. Goree Island is a story revealing the importance of signares in economic success during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and colonial period in Africa. Elevating themselves to respected and revered statuses, these mulatto women were considered the grease that kept the European (particularly French) economic machines moving. During the colonial period in Africa, mulatto (half
However, one of the main points of this book was primarily on everyday life and interactions between signares and other individuals; including their effects on the island’s economy, social and diplomatic relationships and ceremony. When Goree Island was a high traffic port for trading, the most important activities surrounding a ship’s arrival would be centered around the signares. When word of an incoming English ship came in to Monsieur de Drouin, he was extremely concerned about the incoming shipmen’s impressions of their signares. Without the involvement of these signares it is unknown how the transactions would have gone, but what is known is the length of preparations that were made to ensure their visitors were pleased and in return were generous in trade. Sasha and Helene-Marie, both Mothers of the signares at different times, were given the privilege of slave labor to build a stone parlor for their entertaining purposes. This was completely out of the ordinary for French society, however exceptions to the French rules were made daily for the signares, as shown by Andre Bruie’s conversation with a newly arrived factor. “They have the connections [signares]. So, if the rules don’t provide for them, then the rules must at least give them room to do what they do best” (115). The importance of signares was not underestimated in Goree Island
The aforementioned stone parlor was earned by Helene-Marie through an invention that was adapted by the French in their prisons on the island. After asking for permission to use slave labor, Bruie responded to her “she could have the men do it if she could secure them and still give them room to do the work. Then I laughed and dismissed the idea, she came back one week later with this” (116). He was referencing a collard invention that Helene-Marie devised in only one week. This shows that the signares were innovative enough to have created their own opportunities and acquire the position they are in by their own