FORT MONROE, Va. — As others gather Saturday to commemorate 405 years since the first landing of African slaves at Fort Monroe in Hampton, the occasion will have special significance this year.
The Fort Monroe Authority, the National Park Service, the 1619 Project, Inc. and the city of Hampton are holding the annual African Landing Day Commemoration Ceremony and Land Mixing Ceremony at Fort Monroe on Saturday.
The event begins at 10 a. m. on the future side of the African Landing Memorial, a national monument that will honor the lives of African slaves stolen from Africa’s African land and brought to present-day Hampton by English slavers in 1619. The monument’s assignment, a collaboration between the Tucker family, descendants of the first Africans who arrived in 1619, the Fort Monroe Authority and Fort Monroe National Monument, is expected to be completed by 2026.
Watch: The African Landing Memorial at Fort Monroe pays tribute to African slaves and their descendants
As for Saturday’s earth-matching ceremony, organizers are asking all participants to bring a small sample of soil from their home or an important place for their family to combine with the soil from Fort Monroe and Angola.
“It’s moving. It’s powerful. It’s developing in me,” News 3 anchor Wanda Tucker Jessica Larché said in June of Africa’s long-running D-Day Memorial. “Knowing where I come from is a gift, because so many African Americans can’t link their lineage. “
During a verbal exchange at Fort Monroe before June 19, Tucker said his family’s oral history passed down for more than 400 years shows they are descendants of Anthony and Elizabeth, two of the nearly 20 African slaves who arrived on the White Lion privateer ship at Point. Comfort in 1619.
The Africans were kidnapped in their home country of Angola through European slave traders. Upon arrival at Point Comfort, they were sold to slaveholders in the colony of Virginia.
See: Fort Monroe’s role as ‘Fortress of Freedom’ remembered ahead of June 19
Glenn Oder, executive director of the Fort Monroe Authority, the Statue of Liberty monument or the Grand Canyon locally.
“Despite all the tragedy they’ve experienced in their lives, the concept of them carrying a baby [means] hope,” Oder said in June. “What does hope mean in the midst of tragedy than a new life?”
The monument will feature several sculptures by artist Brian Owens, a representation of Anthony, Isabel and William. The task is expected to last five years.
Saturday’s events, African Landing Day, come with African drumming, music, street vendors and the commemorative ringing of bells.
See: Hampton University’s more than 300-year-old ‘Emancipation Oak’ bears witness to history
Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck, Senator Mamie Locke and several Angolan dignitaries will speak.
A press release from the city of Hampton states that “the rite will begin at 10 a. m. at the end of the African Landing Memorial near the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse and will conclude at Continental Park at approximately 1:30 p. m.
The additional press release reads, “The domain of this occasion is approximately 0. 75 miles long and we will be holding parades at three locations within this space. We recommend comfortable clothing and walking shoes. After the ceremony, there will be exhibitions, vendors, cultural performances, and food. trucks at Continental Park until four p. m.
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