Igbo Landing (also called Ibo Landing, Ebo Landing, or Ebos Landing) is a historic site at Dunbar Creek on St. Simons Island, Glynn County, Georgia. It was the setting of a mass suicide in 1803 by captive Igbo people who had taken control of their slave ship and refused to submit to

slavery in the United States The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South. Sl ...

. The event's moral value as a story of resistance towards slavery has symbolic importance in

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

as the flying Africans legend, and in literary history.

History

In May 1803 a shipload of captive West Africans, upon surviving the Middle Passage, were landed by U.S.-paid captors in Savannah by a

slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast ...

, to be auctioned off at one of the local slave markets. The ship's enslaved passengers included a number of Igbo people from what is now

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. The Igbo were known by planters and slavers of the American South for being fiercely independent and resistant to chattel slavery. The group of 75 enslaved Igbo people were bought by agents of John Couper and Thomas Spalding for forced labor on their plantations in St. Simons Island for $100 each. The chained enslaved people were packed under the deck of a small vessel named ''The Schooner York'' to be shipped to the island (other sources say the voyage took place aboard ''The Morovia''Glynn County, Georgia.
"History and Lore: Ebo Landing"
Retrieved 27 April 2013.). During this voyage the Igbo slaves rose up in rebellion, taking control of the ship and drowning their captors, in the process causing the grounding of the ''Morovia'' in Dunbar Creek at the site now locally known as Igbo Landing. The following sequence of events is unclear, as there are several versions of the revolt's development, some of which are considered mythological. Apparently the Africans went ashore and subsequently, under the direction of a high Igbo chief among them, walked in unison into the creek singing in the Igbo language "The Water Spirit brought us, the Water Spirit will take us home". They thereby accepted the protection of their god

Chukwu Chukwu is the supreme being of Igbo spirituality. In the Igbo pantheon, Chukwu is the source of all other Igbo deities and is responsible for assigning them their different tasks. The Igbo people believe that all things come from Chukwu, who ...

and death over the alternative of slavery.

Roswell King Roswell King (May 3, 1765 – February 15, 1844) was an American enslaver, plantation manager, businessman, planter, and industrialist. Together with his son, Barrington King, he founded Roswell Manufacturing Company in the Georgia Piedmont, establ ...

, a white overseer on the nearby

Pierce Butler Pierce or Piers Butler may refer to: *Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond (c. 1467 – 26 August 1539), Anglo-Irish nobleman in the Peerage of Ireland *Piers Butler, 3rd Viscount Galmoye (1652–1740), Anglo-Irish nobleman in the Peerage of Ireland * P ...

plantation ( Butler Island Plantation), wrote one of the few contemporary accounts of the incident, which states that as soon as the Igbo landed on St. Simons Island they took to the swamp, dying by suicide by walking into Dunbar Creek. A 19th-century account of the event identifies the captain by the surname Patterson and names Roswell King as the person who recovered the bodies of the drowned. A letter describing the event written by Savannah slave dealer William Mein states that the Igbo walked into the marsh, where 10 to 12 drowned, while some were "salvaged" by bounty hunters who received $10 a head from Spalding and Couper. According to some sources, survivors of the Igbo rebellion were taken to Cannon's Point on St. Simons Island and Sapelo Island.

Historical context

Igbo Landing was the final scene of events which in 1803 amounted to a "major act of resistance" by the Africans. These events have had enduring symbolic importance in African-American folklore and literary history.Watts, Linda S. (2006).
Encyclopedia of American Folklore
'. Infobase Publishing. p. 211. . The mutiny by the Igbo people has been referred to as the first "freedom march" in the history of America. Although for more than two centuries most authorities considered the accounts to be an Afro-American folktale, research since 1980 has verified the factual basis of the legend and its historical content. The site was included as a historic resource in a 2009 county survey. The site bears no official historical marker. A sewage disposal plant was built beside the historical site in the 1940s despite local opposition by African Americans. The site is still routinely visited by historians and tourists. The event has recently been incorporated into the history curriculum of coastal Georgia schools.

Oral history

The story of the Igbo slaves who chose death over a life of slavery is a recurring story that has taken deep roots in African American and

Gullah The Gullah () are an African American ethnic group who predominantly live in the Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, within the coastal plain and the Sea Islands. Their language and cultu ...

oral history. As is typical of oral histories, the facts have evolved over time.

Myth of the water-walking Africans

Floyd White, an elderly African American interviewed by the

Federal Writers Project The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) was a federal government project in the United States created to provide jobs for out-of-work writers during the Great Depression. It was part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal program. It wa ...

in the 1930s is recorded as saying: A typical

telling of the events, incorporating many of the recurrent themes that are common to most myths related to the Igbo Landing, is recorded by Linda S. Watts:

Myth of the flying Africans

Another popular legend associated with Igbo Landing is known as the myth of the flying Africans. It was recorded from various oral sources in the 1930s by members of the

. In these cases, the Africans are reputed to have grown wings, or turned into vultures, before flying back home to freedom in Africa. Wallace Quarterman, an African American born in 1844, who was interviewed in 1930, when asked if he had heard about the Igbo landing states: As Professor Terri L. Snyder notes: This theory is disputed, however, by Professor

Jeroen Dewulf Jeroen Dewulf (1972 in Nieuwpoort, Belgium) is a Belgian scholar specializing in Dutch culture, the Dutch language, German Studies, slavery and African-American culture, Caribbean Studies, and Latin American Studies. He is a professor at the Univers ...

, who argues that there are frequent references to Igbos as well as to enslaved Africans flying home in the

interviews, but that theories connecting both are built on weak foundations. Dewulf, instead, traces the origins of the myth of the flying Africans to the

Kingdom of Loango The Kingdom of Loango (also ''Lwããgu'') was a pre- colonial African state, during approximately the 16th to 19th centuries in what is now the western part of the Republic of the Congo, Southern Gabon and Cabinda. Situated to the north of the ...

and the Kingdom of Kongo in Central Africa.

Reported haunting

Local people claim that the Igbo Landing and surrounding marshes in Dunbar Creek are haunted by the souls of the dead Igbo who were enslaved.

Legacy

In September 2002 the St. Simons African-American Heritage Coalition organized a two-day commemoration with events related to Igbo history and a procession to the site. The 75 attendees came from other states, as well as Nigeria, and Belize and Haiti, where similar resistance had taken place. They gathered to designate the site as holy ground and give the souls rest.The Associated Press, "Slave legend draws people for two-day remembrance in coastal Georgia"
2 September 2002, posted at St. Simon Island Heritage Coalition website, accessed 27 April 2016 The account of the Igbo is now part of the curriculum for coastal Georgia schools.

Representation in other media

The historical events pertaining to the Igbo slave escape in Dunbar Creek, and the associated myth, have inspired and influenced a number of artists from the African diaspora. Examples include Nobel laureate

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' So ...

, who used the myth of the flying Africans in her novel, '' Song of Solomon,'' and Alex Haley, who retells the story in his book ''

Roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

''. The

Paule Marshall Paule Marshall (April 9, 1929 – August 12, 2019) was an American writer, best known for her 1959 debut novel '' Brown Girl, Brownstones''. In 1992, at the age of 63, Marshall was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship grant. Life and career Marshall wa ...

novel '' Praisesong for the Widow'' also was inspired by these events. They are retold from the context of the

descendants in the feature film ''

Daughters of the Dust ''Daughters of the Dust'' is a 1991 independent film written, directed and produced by Julie Dash and is the first feature film directed by an African-American woman distributed theatrically in the United States.Michel, Martin (November 20, 2016)" ...

'' (1991), directed by

Julie Dash Julie Ethel Dash (born October 22, 1952) is an American film director, writer and producer. Dash received her MFA in 1985 at the UCLA Film School and is one of the graduates and filmmakers known as the L.A. Rebellion. The L.A. Rebellion refers ...

. The 1994

Ngozi Onwurah Ngozi Onwurah (born 1966) is a British-Nigerian film director, producer, model, and lecturer. She is best known as a filmmaker for her autobiographical film ''The Body Beautiful'' (1991) and her first feature film, ''Welcome II the Terrordome'' ( ...

film ''Welcome II the Terrordome'' features a dramatization the Igbo landing, serving as a frame for the film's main plot and dystopian setting. Other contemporary artists that allude to, or have integrated the complete tale of the Flying Africans in their work, include

Joseph Zobel Joseph Zobel (April 26, 1915 in Martinique – June 18, 2006 in Alès, France) is the author of several novels and short-stories in which social issues are at the forefront. Although his most famous novel, '' La Rue Cases-Nègres'', was published so ...

, Maryse Conde,

Toni Cade Bambara Toni Cade Bambara, born Miltona Mirkin Cade (March 25, 1939 – December 9, 1995), was an African-American author, documentary film-maker, social activist and college professor. Biography Early life and education Miltona Mirkin Cade was bor ...

, and

Jamaica Kincaid Jamaica Kincaid (; born May 25, 1949) is an Antiguan-American novelist, essayist, gardener, and gardening writer. She was born in St. John's, Antigua (part of the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda). She lives in North Bennington, Vermo ...

. Imagery from the "Love Drought" portion of Beyoncé's visual album ''

Lemonade Lemonade is a sweetened lemon-flavored beverage. There are varieties of lemonade found throughout the world. In North America and South Asia, cloudy still lemonade is the most common variety. There it is traditionally a homemade drink using ...

'' is said to be inspired by Daughters of the Dust and the story of Igbo Landing. In the 2018

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics * ...

film '' Black Panther'', Michael B. Jordan, as Killmonger, references Igbo Landing during his death scene: “Bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped from ships, 'cause they knew death was better than bondage.”

References

External links

* ttp://themoonlitroad.com/ibo-landing/ "Ibo Landing" The Moonlit Road. {{Gullah topics, state=collapsed Pre-emancipation African-American history Reportedly haunted locations in Georgia (U.S. state) African-American history of Georgia (U.S. state) Igbo-American history Igbo diaspora Nigerian-American culture and history American folklore Slave rebellions in the United States 1803 in the United States Maritime incidents involving slave ships Mutinies 19th-century rebellions Gullah history Mass suicides History of racism in Georgia (U.S. state)