Homegoing is a book written by Yaa Gyasi and published in 2016 that tells the story of Esi and Effia’s family over eight generations. It explores African heritage and culture, the history of racism and enslavement, and the influence of colonization on indigenous people. 
Effia grows up in a Fante village and marries James Collins, the British governor of Cape Coast Castle. She has a deep affection for her husband and does not protest the slave trade. Their son Quey takes up the business of slave trading because he prioritizes his family’s benefits, while Quey’s son James rejects slave trade and marries Akosua, a poor girl. Effia’s sister Esi is sold to Cape Coast Castle as a slave. After Esi is pregnant and gives birth to her daughter Ness, she is sold to a plantation together with Ness. Ness is separated from her mother and spends her whole life working on plantations. She is forced to marry another slave called Sam and has a son named Kojo. They try to escape from the plantations together, but Ness and Sam are caught back while Kojo succeeds in escaping. The book also tells the story of younger generations of Effia’s and Esi’s families. Esi’s last descendant is Marcus, who is working on a Ph.D. program at Stanford University on the convict leasing system. Together with Majorie, the final descendant of Effia, he travels back to Ghana to explore their family’s history, the oppression that their ancestors faced, and their own identity. 
The book demonstrates the huge influence of cultural identity and heritage on an individual. Effia’s descendants have a British governor as one of their ancestors, so they have much more power and live much better lives than indigenous people. In contrast, Esi’s descendants are the victims of slave trades because of their black identity. The slave trades the family suffers from have a negative impact on all family members. What makes Effia’s descendants’ lives different from those of Esi’s descendants is their different family background and heritage – Effia's descendants have one British official as their ancestor and some parts of white identity, while Esi’s descendants do not. 
Homegoing also shows the impact of colonization and enslavement on indigenous people and Africans. Because of slave trade, Esi has to spend her entire life working on plantations, Sam is killed after being caught trying to escape, and their descendants all live in the shadow of the family’s trauma. The Esi family’s tragic story manifests slave trade’s severe injuries on African people.