Igbo Slavery In The United States As Far Back As 1803

“Muo mmiri du anyi bia,
  Muo mmiri duru anyi laa...”

The lyrics of the song by seventy-five Igbo slaves in America as they marched
gallantly into the Dunbar Creek, St. Simons Island, Georgia, USA, calling on the water spirits that brought them, to lead them back home.

From the Slave port of Calabar, present-day Nigeria to Savannah, USA, a group of Igbo men wept off their hearts.

On May, 1803, on landing in the United States, seventy-five of the Igbo slaves were auctioned. They were bought and sent to

St. Simons Island.

“We are not slaves,” cried one of the Igbo slaves, possibly an Igbo High Chief, as they were carried on deck a vessel to St. Simons Island, “We cannot sit down in chains and work for these men. Chukwu Okike Abiama (The local Igbo deity) is with us. We should take this ship!”

After a planned mutiny, the Igbo slaves took over the ship, drowning their captors in the Dunbar creeks and putting the vessel aground.

Knowing that they will still be taken by the White men as slaves, they called onto God for help. They stepped back into the water and walked home, been led by the water spirits.

The folklore and mythology of the Africans that walked their way, on the water, back to their home became a very popular one for most African-Americans. Today, The History of the Igbo Landing is part of the school curriculum in Georgia State, USA.

The collaborative suicide of drowning of the Seventy-five Africans in revolt of slavery became a motivation for slaves to fight for their freedom. The event was the first of its kind.

It is said that the spirits of the drowned slaves still haunt around the Dunbar Creeks.

In September 2002, a group of African-Americans gathered to designate the site as a holy ground and give the souls a good rest.

Till date, various African-Americans hold the Igbo Landing at high esteem as a symbol of resistance to White domination.

A video from Beyoncé’s 2016 album, Lemonade, titled “Love Drought” purports the Igbo landing event.

The Igbo slaves in other part of the Americas proved strong-headed as it ran in their blood, the resistivity to oppressions. Igbos have and will always be known as strong people who can never be intimidated, little wonder they are the ones driving the nation they found themselves – the present-day Nigeria.