Story of 75 Proud Igbos that killed themselves rather than being slaves in a foreign land

 

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 One of Nigerian tribes that thrives irrespective of location, situation and economic circumstances are the Igbos ..

One of the main ethnic groups in Africa is the Igbo people. A part of the Niger-Congo language family is the Igbo language. Igbo individuals work mainly as merchants, farmers and craftsmen in rural Nigeria. Yams are the most important crop. Cassava and taro are other staple crops. Let us now take a look at the story of the greatest mass suicide of Igbo slaves in 1803. One of the biggest mass suicides in the history of enslaved people took place in 1803, when Igbo prisoners from Nigeria were brought to the coast of Georgia. When in May 1803, the Igbo people and other West African prisoners arrived in Savannah, Georgia, on the Wanderer slave ship. They were purchased for $100 by John Couper and Thomas Spalding and were sold to the nearby St. Simons Island plantation.

Approximately 75 Igbo slaves rose to revolt during the voyage, taking possession of the vessel. It is reported that only the Igbo slaves, after taking charge of the ship, marched ashore, singing, led by their high chief. Then they marched in his path into Dunbar Creek's marshy waters, committing mass suicide. They felt it was easier to die as a free man than to be a slave in the country of another man. The people of today are proud of Nigeria and of the world at large. They produced the great political and cultural colossus that produced the mathematics genius, Professors James Esielo, that great writer Chinua Achebe, Nnamdi Azikwe, Igbo-land. We honour them and in their shadow today.