Homegoing follows the families of two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, both born in Africa in the late 1700s. Although born around the same time, the two sisters lead very different lives. The older sister, Effia, marries a white man, and her family resides in Africa selling people into slavery during the height of the British slave trade. Esi, the younger sister, is one of those people sold into slavery, and her descendants end up residing across the ocean in the United States. Alternating between the two families, each chapter tells the story of a character from the next generation during a different part of Ghanaian (Effia) and American (Esi) history. While Effia’s family line is affected by the slave trade, the fall of the Asante tribe, and the takeover of their country by the British, Esi’s family is impacted by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, the harsh prison sentences of the late 1800s, and the Great Migration.
The great scope of this novel is a wonderful journey through a different, important side of history. As Yaw, Effia’s third great-grandson, advises, “So when you study history, you must always ask yourself, Whose story am I missing? Whose voice was suppressed so that this voice could come forth? Once you have figured that out, you must find that story too. From there, you begin to get a clearer, yet still imperfect picture.”