The igbo landing of may 1803 is a historic and powerful tale of attempts to opt out of slavery.
it is considered to be one of the largest mass sucides of enslaved people that took place when the igbo captives were taken to georgia on a slave ship known as the wanderer.

During the transatlantic slave trade in Nigeria, the Igbo tribe were revered because they were industrious, proud, independent, they were known to perform their duties with little or no supervision. that is like a very important requirement needed in any employee today

These slaves were bought for about a 100 dollars each by two merchants, john couper and thomas spalding after which they were chained and packed under a deck of a coastel vessel sailing to st-simons.

History has it, that during the vovage, about 75 igbo captives rebelled, took control of the ship, and drowned the captors

this part of history remains unclear, but it is said that at direction of the high chief, coupled with a song, in the ibo dialect which can mean$ "the water spirits brought us, the water spirits wilk take us back"

they walked into the marshy waters of Dunbar Creek, committing mass suicide.


Some interesting facts you need to know

The Igbo Landing has come to occupy great symbolic importance in local African American folklore. The mutiny and subsequent suicide by the Igbo people have been called the first freedom march in the history of the United States.

Apparently only a subset of the 75 Igbo rebels drowned,According to an account by a slave dealer William Mein Thirteen bodies were recovered, while some were salvaged by bounty hunters who got $10 per head, but others remained missing, and some may have survived the suicide episode, making the actual numbers of deaths uncertain.

I have studied this particular story, wondering why despite successfully carrying out a rebellion, they deciding to commit suicide

Here are my opinion apart from the online stories expressing that the igbos would rather be dead than be slaves in a foreign land.

I think strongly at the time, the igbos were just, almost righteous and will not want to have to commit murder over and over so they could be free

Also, i think, they passed judgment on themselves, anyone who kills shall be killed.
there was no fear of death what so ever, infact, death was not to be feared but accepted as transition to peace

either way, in oneness of mind and heart, the ibos chose death for it meant they were to find peace quicker than they had hoped.



The story was finally recorded from various sources in the 1930s by members of the Federal Writers Project.

While many historians for centuries have cast doubt on the Igbo Landing mass suicide, suggesting that the entire incident was more legend than fact, the accounts Roswell King and others provided at the time were verified by post-1980 research which used modern scientific techniques to reconstruct the episode and confirm the factual basis of the longstanding accounts.


In September 2002, the St. Simons African American community organized a two-day commemoration with events related to Igbo history and a procession to the site of the mass suicide.

Seventy-five attendees came from different states across the United States, as well Nigeria, Brazil, and Haiti. The attendees designated the site as a holy ground and called for the souls to be permanently at rest. The Igbo Landing is now part of the curriculum for coastal Georgia schools.


Contemporary artists like Beyonce have also depicted and paid homage to the Igbo Landing in their work.

actor Michael B Jordan who played killmonger in black panther refers to this event, saying,

“Bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped from ships, ’cause they knew death was better than bondage”.


I have a mini episode on my podcast channel if you are interested.