Tybee looks to establish sisterhood with this African city, and the mayor is planning a visit
Julia Pearce, co-founder of Tybee MLK, a nonprofit dedicated to encouraging diversity on Tybee Island, said that while the population is more than 95% white, its connection to Black people is an integral part of the Island's history.
“That just didn’t happen that way,” Pearce said. “We've always been on Tybee, since the beginning.”
The history of Black people on Tybee begins with the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana, otherwise known as the “door of no return,” through which more than 12 million Africans were captured and forced into slavery as part of the transatlantic slave trade.
The enslaved who went through Ghana ended up in the Caribbean, the U.S., and most notably, Savannah as it became one of the most active trading ports in the U.S. after slavery was legalized in Georgia in 1749.
History lesson: Exposing the history of Lazaretto
The enslaved Africans who came into and through Savannah had to first go through Tybee Island for the quarantine process that was required before slave ships could go to the Port of Savannah. This quarantine station is known as a lazaretto, an Italian word meaning “pest house,” to describe a quarantine station for plague-infested ships.
Those Africans that were healthy were taken to Savannah to be sold. Those who died were buried in unmarked graves on Tybee Island, along the Lazaretto Creek.
This is why Pearce earlier this year traveled to Cape Coast Ghana, to make the connection between the door of no return and the lazaretto. And it's why she has requested the city of Tybee invite the mayor of Cape Coast, Ernest Arthur, and his delegation during his U.S. visit.
Pearce requested that the mayor consider making Cape Coast Ghana a sister city, according to city manager Michelle Owens, and the letter of invitation sent by Mayor Shirley Sessions.
“As our city attorney reviews the Sister City Relationship protocol, please know we welcome your visit,” Sessions wrote. “We look forward to meeting you and your delegation.”
According to the spokesperson for the mayor, Dr. Richmond Yeboah, they intend to establish a partnership between the two cities as the reason for their visit. According to Yeboah, they plan to be on Tybee Island on Oct. 11, and are just waiting for an itinerary from Tybee MLK.
"We want to establish a partnership with Tybee because of our similarities in history and beaches," Yeboah said. "We want to forge cooperation to exchange best practices in the area of cultural tourism, education, sanitation and waste management."
Pearce said one of the reasons she wanted to connect with Cape Coast was to tie in Tybee’s master plan of heritage tourism with the historical significance of Ghana being the last place enslaved Africans passed through, and Tybee being the final resting place for some.
'We really can be all one quilt': A celebration of Lazaretto Day on Tybee Island
For the last two years, in March, the people of Tybee Island have celebrated Lazaretto Day, organized by Tybee MLK. The day is meant to be a tribute for all of the enslaved who were taken from their land.
In October 2022, the Tybee Island Historical Society dedicated an official marker in front of the Tybee Island Lighthouse to acknowledge the city’s role in the Middle Passage, as one of 53 coastal ports that received enslaved Africans and one of the earliest American colonies to do so.
One of the goals Tybee MLK and the Lazaretto Coalition, an offshoot of Tybee MLK would like to accomplish is a comprehensive historical display of the Lazaretto, and what it meant to Tybee, the nation and the world.
“We would like to be able to allow, with our organization, people the easy understanding of the history between the Middle Passage and Cape Coast Ghana,” Pearce said. “And how we have survived through extraordinary conditions.”
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Cape Coast Ghana Mayor to visit Tybee Island in October
