'I share this cry with you.' Memorial marks Tybee's role in the Middle Passage slave trade

Editor's Note: A previous version of this story stated that the City of Tybee Island dedicated the official memorial rather than the Tybee Island Historical Society.

On a sunny, blustery morning, community members and city officials gathered near the Tybee Island Light Station as Darlene Washington spoke of her ancestors’ forced voyage from Africa to the Americas.

Her kin were among the more than 12 million Africans enslaved and shipped in deplorable conditions as part of the transatlantic slave trade, the largest forced migration in human history. More than 2 million didn’t survive the 21 to 90-day voyage, known as the Middle Passage. Many of them were brutally tossed overboard.

Washington said she stands in front of the crowd as a representation of her ancestors who “bled and died for her.”

“It gives me so much humility to stand here,” said Washington, holding back tears. “I share this cry with you.”

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On Tuesday, the Tybee Island Historical Society (TIHS) dedicated an official memorial to the captive Africans who arrived on Tybee after surviving the harrowing journey of the Middle Passage. Unveiled during the remembrance ceremony were three panels detailing the history of the Middle Passage and Tybee’s role in American slavery.

It was an official commemoration of Tybee Island’s designation as a UNESCO Site of Memory, which recognized the island as being one of 53 U.S. coastal ports that received enslaved Africans. Other Georgia sites include Savannah, Sapelo Sound and Jekyll Island.  The Tybee Island Historical Society and an UNESCO affiliate, the Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project (MPCPMP), partnered together for the project.

Current research shows that between 1795 and 1803, three ships holding about 796 captive Africans set sail for Tybee. About 667 of those aboard the vessels survived.

While the Port of Savannah was one of the most active slave-trading ports in the U.S., it’s important to recognize Tybee’s part in the transatlantic slave trade too, said Tybee Island Historical Society President Sarah Jones.

“That purpose is to remember the ancestors who traveled against their will across the Atlantic Ocean, from the shores of Africa to the shores of Tybee Island,” said Jones, “The most important mission of the Tybee Island Historical Society is to educate those who visit our small island about its history, even the parts that many of us wish to forget.”

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Knowledge about Middle Passage evolving

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), supports programs and initiatives that engender intercultural dialogue. One of their many missions is to recognize and preserve documents, relics and sites of cultural importance. Tybee’s designation as a UNESCO Site of Memory associated with the Routes of Enslaved People’s Project is a pivotal moment, said Jones.

“It takes Tybee and puts it in a global perspective,” she said.

Scholarship related to the Middle Passage is evolving, according to the MPCPMP’s Ann Chinn. People are looking at old documents and tracing the commerce and business of the human trade. Some of the arrival points, or where the enslaved people set foot on the American coast, including Tybee, were identified through Emory University’s "Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade" database.

“The Middle Passage is always going to be connected to slavery and human trade, and I think that it's natural for people to want to avoid it or to submerge it,” said Chinn, “And what we're doing is saying ‘no’.”

Though the importation of the enslaved was outlawed in 1808, it did not end slavery itself, nor did it stop the domestic sale of the enslaved. The 1808 Act also drove the slave trade underground and smuggling still continued until 1860.

Tybee Island is still working to uncover details about its role in this history. The island, which served as an outpost for incoming ship traffic, is known for being home to the Lazaretto, where passengers (mostly enslaved people), quarantined to prevent the spread of disease.

Those who died were buried in unmarked graves near the Lazaretto Creek and those who survived were taken into Savannah to be sold. The Lazaretto Coalition, a nonprofit comprised of community members and scholars are working to erect a memorial for this particular segment of Tybee’s history.

The organization is currently engaged in an effort to locate the unmarked graves, an endeavor that became more urgent when the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) announced plans to replace the Lazaretto Bridge. Members of the Lazaretto Coalition, as well as local nonprofit Tybee MLK Human Rights Organization, grew worried that future bridge construction would disrupt a potential archaeological landmark. Organizers also ran into issues when they discovered that the location of the burial grounds could be on restricted private property.

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Part of the scoping process will involve an archaeological study, according to GDOT. The archaeological dig could involve ground-penetrating radar to identify artifacts or remains, but the exact plans for the Lazaretto Bridge are not yet finalized.

“When we're talking about African history on this island, how do you preserve history that's been lost, hidden, whitewashed and covered up?” asked Jim Hilleary of the Lazaretto Coalition, “How do you dig and search for evidence to preserve when sacred burial grounds and historical sites are now private property held by owners determined to restrict access?”

A comprehensive picture on race

Tybee MLK is also working on a project to document Black life and heritage on Tybee Island, which was hostile towards Black visitors during times of racial segregation. It wasn’t until after the Tybee wade-ins – where Black youth marched into the waters of the then white's only beach – did the island start integrating in 1963.

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TIHS’s Jones said they hope to eventually weave these histories together in their respective memorials. Research and remembrance is an ongoing process and so many elements of Tybee’s racial history and role in the Middle Passage still need to be uncovered, she said.

Details such as: Why did the three ships dock at Tybee Island and not Savannah? And, did the enslaved quarantine on the ship or off the ship at the Lazaretto?

“These are all questions that we can’t answer right now that we need to try and answer,” said Jones.

Nancy Guan is the general assignment reporter covering Chatham County municipalities. Reach her at nguan@gannett.com or on Twitter @nancyguann.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Tybee Island is recognized by UNESCO for its role in Middle Passage