Know Your History: Legends in the African world: Igbo Landing, May, 1803..

In May 1803 a shipload of stolen and enslaved Africans, upon surviving the Middle Passage, were landed by US paid captors in Savannah, Georgia by ship, 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. The Igbo were known by planters and slavers of the American South for being fiercely independent and more unwilling to tolerate chattel slavery. The group of Igbos were bought by agents of John Couper and Thomas Spalding for enslavement on their plantations on St. Simons Island.

The chained Afrikans were packed under the deck of a small vessel named the Morovia to be shipped to the island. During this voyage the Igbos 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 Ebo Landing. The following sequence of events is unclear as there are several versions concerning the revolt's development, some of which are considered legendary. Roswell King, a white overseer on the nearby Pierce Butler plantation, wrote one of the only contemporary accounts of the incident which states that as soon as the Igbo landed on St. Simons Island they took to the swamp, committing suicide by walking into Dunbar Creek. A 19th century Savannah-written account of the event lists the surname Patterson for the captain of the ship and Roswell King as the person who recovered the bodies of the drowned.

Igbo Landing was the final scene of events which, in the heyday of slavery in the United States in 1803, amounted to a "major act of resistance" and as such these events have led to enduring symbolic importance in Amerikkkan Afrikan folklore and literary history.

Alternative Endings to the Story

Floyd White, an elderly Amerikkan Afrikan interviewed by the Federal Writers Project in the 1930s is recorded as saying:

"Heard about the Ibo’s Landing? That’s the place where they bring the Ibos over in a slave ship and when they get here, they ain’t like it and so they all start singing and they march right down in the river to march back to Africa, but they ain’t able to get there. They gets drown."

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

"The West Africans upon assessing their situation resolved to risk their lives by walking home over the water rather than submit to the living death that awaited them in American slavery. As the tale has it, the tribes people disembark from the ship, and as a group, turned around and walked along the water, traveling in the opposite direction from the arrival port. As they took this march together, the West Africans joined in song. They are reported to have sung a hymn in which the lyrics assert that the water spirits will take them home. While versions of this story vary in nuance, all attest to the courage in rebellion displayed by the enslaved Igbo."

Another popular legend associated with Igbo Landing known as the flying Afrikans was recorded from various oral sources in the 1930s by members of the Federal Writers Project. In these cases, the Africans are reputed to have grown wings or turned themselves into vultures, before flying back home to freedom in Africa. Wallace Quarterman, an Amerikkkan-Afrikan born in 1844 who was interviewed in 1930, when asked if he had heard about the Igbo landing states:

“Ain't you heard about them? Well, at that time Mr. Blue he was the overseer and . . . Mr. Blue he go down one morning with a long whip for to whip them good. . . . Anyway, he whipped them good and they got together and stuck that hoe in the field and then . . . rose up in the sky and turned themselves into buzzards and flew right back to Africa. . . . Everybody knows about them.”

The Igbo Landing site and surrounding marshes in Dunbar Creek are claimed to be haunted by the souls of the perished Igbo slaves. It is said that at night if you listen carefully, you can hear the clanking of chains and echoes of these brave Afrikans...

Contemporary References to the Igbo Landing

There have been references to the events of the Igbo Landing in recent times. Nobel laureate Toni Morrison used the myth of the flying Africans (a mythological adaption of the Igbos escape at Dunbar creek) in her novel, Song of Solomon. Alex Haley also retold the story in his book, Roots. Several African writers and artists have represented the Dunbar creek events in their works, ranging from poetry and novels to paintings. In like manner, many musicians and moviemakers have paid tribute to the Igbo landing in their works. A very recent example is the tribute found in the finishing scenes of Marvel’s Black Panther. In the movie, Killmonger, a character played by Michael B. Jordan, refers to the Igbo Landing event in his line: “Lay me to rest in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped from ships, ’cause they knew eternal rest was better than slavery.”

It is also said that the story of Igbo Landing and the Daughters of the Dust inspired the imagery in Beyoncé’s “Love Drought” portion of her visual album, Lemonade.