5. Igbo Landing 1803
The Igbo people originated in present-day Nigeria. Since the 15th century, Europeans negotiated with African tribal leaders in the Bight of Benin along the Slave Coast. Europeans perceived that the Igbo people made good slaves as they were less troublesome than Africans from different regions. The reality was that it did not matter where the captives came from, they all demonstrated resistance to forced servitude in different ways.
As Europeans waited in the Gulf of Guinea, sailors converted the ship from a merchant’s vessel to one that could accommodate a large number of human captives. Captured slaves embarked upon a forced march to the slave castles and forts near the gulf. After tribal leaders and the ship’s captain agreed to terms, the African captives were transported via canoe or small boat where they were forced to climb rope ladders onto the awaiting vessel.
Sailors segregated the captives by sex with only very young children remaining with their mothers. Male captives were placed below deck while female captives were placed closer to the officers’ quarters where many were often raped. As the ship set sail across the Atlantic the captives knew exactly what was happening and where they were going. The Middle Passage was full of routine and boredom for captives, sailors, and officers. Sailors had to clean out human waste from below deck while the captives were forced to wash the deck.
Each day, the captives were forced to dance as a way to ensure that they exercised. It was imperative to the captain, who worked for the merchant that owned the ship, to ensure that no one fell ill or died during the voyage. Death or illness meant that the ship would be held in quarantine and money lost.
In 1803, a ship landed near Savannah, Georgia filled with Africans headed for the local slave market. John Couper and Thomas Spalding had their agents purchase 75 of the Igbo at $100 a piece from the ship. The captives were chained together and placed onto a small boat destined for St. Simons Island off the coast of Georgia. During the voyage, the Igbo took over the small boat. During the chaos, the boat ran aground near Dunbar Creek, now known as Igbo Landing.
Under the leadership of a presumed Igbo chief, the chained men and women began to walk into the creek to drown themselves. Slave traders nearby pulled all but the 10 or 12 that drowned out of the water. The surviving Igbo were sent to their new owners and the slave traders that rescued them were given $10 per head from Couper and Spalding. For the Igbo, death was a better alternative to enslavement.