What’s in a call that’s just a whisper?
March 25 Lazareto Day on Tybee Island. About two hundred more people gathered at Battery Park overlooking Cockspur Lighthouse and Fort Pulaski. Through a rich program, we have learned that the area is a sacred land, with a transatlantic history beneath our feet.
You cross the last bridge over Lazaretto Creek as you enter Tybee. Growing up, I thought the word “lazaret” was musical, with an Italian lightness. It rhymed with “palmetto” and “libretto”.
More: Sankofa House Savannah and its leader place non-secular healing for the community
Now I know the environment badly. It is an Italian word, in fact, that gave the impression in the Venice of 1400 to describe a quarantine station for ships in all likelihood infested with plague. He takes his call from the biblical Lazarus.
When the prohibition of slavery in Georgia was repealed in 1749, the structure of a lazareto was ordered in Tybee. In 1768 it was nevertheless built.
In May, 250 African slaves brought to sell in Savannah aboard the ship Constantine took their first steps on the mainland of this lazareto. The healthy ones were treated and groomed. Slaves who had died while chained under bridges in the month-long adventure were buried in unmarked graves.
Learn more about the impact of development on the region: Tybee organizers fear Lazaretto Bridge renovations could jeopardize unmarked burial site
Today, an organization of other people from Tybee and Savannah gather each month in the park to think of a healing memorial suitable for the site. The Lazareto Day program organized the first public presentation.
And that healing.
Savannah’s attorney, Chad Mance, brought the instance to life by talking about the symbolic illumination of the lighthouse and the heritage where it stood. “Where two or more unite in the call of what is true and right, progress inevitably comes. “
SSU professor Jamal Touré acquired an ancestral character with a litany of American villages and African ports of departure.
In a diaphanous tie-dye, dancers Stephanie Davis and Tomika Boone of the Sankofa Center for the Arts in Savannah conducted the joyful music of Mali and Senegal. As he clapped in unison with the drums and cymbals, they swore to their ancestors. to “let your presence fill this place. “
More by Ben Goggins: Family Pays Tribute to Local Holocaust Memorial
Jim Hilleary, a resident of Tybee, spoke about the discovery of the secluded beach of the cliff of Lazaret. “I thought it was our secret beach until my wife pointed out to me it was a sacred beach. “
He recalled the words of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg. We dedicate, we consecrate, we sanctify this land. The brave, living and dead, who have fought here, have consecrated it. From those revered dead, we take a greater devotion to this cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. . He noticed that in an equally harsh way, the flesh and bones of those buried near the lazareto call the living to honor them.
Daria Collins, art instructor at Tybee Maritime Academy, presented a quilt made by her students to unite the beyond and the present. In the middle of the duvet, an elegant child touches a united person, the area of his hands forms a heart.
More: Chefs, farmers and storytellers come together to unite the lifestyle and culture of Gullah Geechee
Artist Tybee Patrice Jackson knelt as she spoke of the inspiration and strength she draws from the earth, describing the pain of her ancestors as they touched this ground for the first time after weeks of choppy seas and painful chains. on earth here in the Lazareto. “
As he combined the sand of Tybee Beach with water, he led the chant: “Mother, I feel you under my feet. Mom, I feel your center beating. Ground my body, water my blood. It vents my breath and turns on my mind.
Keynote speaker Daniel Black, a professor at Atlanta University Clark, reminded the crowd to turn to others and ask, “How are you?”This provoked a lot of smiles and sustained repetition.
He read his best-selling novel “The Coming,” which depicts the horror and trauma of being captured. The many birth names, the many tribal names, obviously showed how each captivates an individual, rather than the stock of the cargo.
Tybee Mayor Shirley Sessions and many city council members and officials attended. She celebrated that Tybee has “enriched herself with this vision of finding forgotten history. “
Gullah-Geechee narrator Patt Gunn, Roz Rouse and Sirdeepy Frazier of Saltwata Beaches in Savannah have shown that “there is no mourning. “They sang “Amazing Grace,” written in 1772 as a hymn of contrition through former slave trader John Newton.
Sirdeepy added sweet lyrics, “Lazaretto, we you,” and also made the audience and their compassion a component of the song. They ended with “Bring me some water, Molly. “
As a guest from Baltimore later said, “We will not forget to cross the bridge, see the lighthouse and the light. In fact, we can all be a quilt. We will never hear “Amazing Grace” again without linking it to this special. place.
The Lazaret Coalition meets at 3:00 p. m. the first Thursday of each month at Battery Park (10 Battery Drive, just off Highway 80) on Tybee Island. All are welcome.
Ben Goggins, a retired marine biologist, lives on Tybee Island. He can be reached at 912-786-6181 or bengoggins9@gmail. com.