SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — For some, the sights and sounds of the ocean are a solemn reminder of their African enslaved ancestors who were taken from their homelands.
Deena Hill of Mount Pleasant, Utah, discovered documents detailing the stories of Igbo slaves shipped from Nigeria to Georgia.
Witnesses reported hearing Igbo slaves making the momentous decision to return to the water.
“They decided they would rather die than be slaves in a strange land,” Hill said. “They said, ‘The water brought us here, the water will carry us home.'”
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It happened in what is today known as Danvers Creek on St. Simons Island, just off the coast of Georgia, about an hour and a half south of Savannah.
Desi Campbell, Hill’s cousin with ties to Georgia, took a fresh look at the story he’s known for years.
He said the details of the story affected him differently now that he knew the slaves were Igbo and his extended family was also Igbo.
“I went to Savannah State, not far from St. Simons Island, and I kept hearing about slaves who went back into the water and drowned,” Campbell said.
Those slaves were not forgotten. In August 2023, Campbell and Hill, along with other relatives, attended a special ceremony at Igbo Landing, commemorating the place where slaves chose to die.
“It was very different and something I had never seen before,” Campbell said.
The ceremony included singing, dancing, and lots of food.
“Then the Igbo king came and performed a ceremony on the water, and we decided to join in,” Hill said.
Hill said King Eze Chukwuemeka Eri did not expect Dina to attend the ceremony.
“When I walked out, he was so surprised and I was white. And I said, ‘Hello!'” I’m Igbo! And he and he just looked at me in confusion,” she said.
But his moment of embarrassment disappeared when Hill explained his research to discover the links between Nigerian ancestry and Igboland.
“And my nephew was with us and my brother and his three children and my husband and he talked to us and he said, ‘We’re home.’ “I was so excited to go home,” she said.
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