Celebrated African-American actor, Danny Glover, has highlighted the importance of Ghana in the history of mankind.

The film director and political activist who touched down in Ghana on Tuesday, 20 August 2019, was received at the Kotoka International Airport by a dance ensemble who treated the entourage to some traditional Ghanaian music and dance.

Accompanied by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Mr Glover and his entourage embarked on the trip as part of the ‘Jamestown to Jamestown’ event to commemorate Ghana’s Year of Return to mark 400 years since the first enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia.

Mr Glover told Accra-based Citi TV after his arrival that: “Ghana is great. We think about Ghana and the great kingdoms, the Ashanti Kingdoms…[Ghana] is an area of an extraordinary moment in human history, not just the history of the last 300, 400 years but human history”.

The 73-year-old actor urged the authorities to evaluate “what we [can] do in elevating Ghana’s story [and] its presence in the 21st century and its citizens in the 21st century as a strong component of change, of development [and] of growth”.

As part of the trip, Mr Glover and his team are expected to visit Jamestown in Accra, as well as Cape Coast and Elmina castles in the Central Region, where slaves were kept before their departure from the shores of the country during the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

They will enjoy rich cultural, spiritual and traditional experiences and also interact with some state officials.

Already, very notable diasporans of Ghanaian descent such as WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, Idris Elba and Boris Codjoe have visited.

Also, African-American actor Michael Jai White and actor/producer Samuel L.Jackson have visited Ghana.

Additionally, African-American musician Jidenna and actress Rosario Dawson, have also been to Ghana.

A lot of activities have been earmarked for the Year or Return such as the Black History Month with the African-American Association of Ghana, Back2Africa Festival, Ghana Independence Day Celebration, the pan-African Student Summit, JaGha Reggae Festival and Heritage Paragliding Festival in Kwahu.

Others are Black Prophet Homecoming Celebration, PANAFEST, GOD BOX Spiritual Pilgrimage, Chale Wote, Afrochella, among others.

The Ghana Tourism Authority, and the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture are working in partnership with the Office of Diaspora Affairs at the Jubilee House, the Pan-African Historical Theatre Festival (Panafest) Foundation and The Adinkra Group to steer the year-long Year of Return celebrations.