Igbo Landing
Kelechi Ubozoh
Let me tell you the true story of Igbo Landing.
Long, long, ago on the coast of West Africa lived the Igbo
Tribe.
The people vibrant, Black, and beautiful. Skilled in battle.
Connected to the spirit realm, sacred land. Lifetimes spent,
transforming thick tropical forests and coastal swamplands
to abundant brilliant cities.
Ancestors and descendants communed, rejoiced.
Until one day.
Cold eyes with violent delights, the ghost men arrived.
The phantom soulless beings
stole the heart of Igboland, the people.
Placed them on wandering ships.
Stripped, branded and beaten.
Smelling death and dreaming of relief.
The ships swayed; the Igbos prayed.
A voice called out from the side of the ship.
The water will bring you back.
The water will bring you back.
The water will bring you back.
Arriving from West Coast to East Coast,
West Africa to Georgia marshland.
The Motherland to the Patriarchy.
The Igbos landed.
The warriors roared:
Nzogbu!
Enyi mba Enyi!
Nzogbu!
Enyi mba Enyi!
Nzogbu Nzogbu!
Enyi mba Enyi!
Zogbue Nwoke!
Enyi mba Enyi!
Nzogbu!
Enyi mba Enyi!
Commotion.
Explosion.
Resistance.
The weary warriors attacked their captors.
Pale faces drowned in the undertow.
A voice called out from the depths below.
The water will bring you back.
The water will bring you back.
The water will bring you back.
The Igbo people walked hand in hand. Chained together, marching
over mosquito thick swampy mud. Children, women,
and men. Walking as one into the deep marsh.
They chanted in response to the ocean's song.
The water brought us,
the water will bring us back.
The water brought us,
the water will bring us back.
The water brought us,
the water will bring us back.
Tall, short, Black and beautiful
they marched into the sea.
What was thought of as a mass suicide
was a path to the other side.
Once the Igbo people fully submerged
a transformation of terror and delight
for their feet became fins,
they grew gills, bloomed iridescent scales,
chains shattered from the transfiguration
under the blue depths a newfound nation.
Other stories say they took flight,
but sea creatures created a beacon of light.
Led them out of the swamplands
and the darkness of night.
An answer to their prayer, a celebration of their fight.
A new song of liberation.
We are water and we return.
Protect our descendants let them learn
the answer to our prayers may be
a perfect riddle from the sea.
Where do Black mermaids come from?
The salt from tears of enslaved folks coming home.
1 In 1803, after overpowering their captors off St. Simons Island, Georgia, a group of Igbo people chose death over enslavement, wading into the waters at Dunbar Creek. This powerful act of resistance, one of the largest mass suicides in the history of slavery, was a bold assertion of control over their fate in the face of unrelenting oppression. The story of Igbo Landing, rich with symbolism and often steeped in supernatural lore, remains a deeply significant part of Black American history and folklore
Kelechi Ubozoh
Kelechi Ubozoh is an Oakland-based Nigerian-American writer and mental health advocate blending storytelling and activism to explore trauma, race, and healing. A Pushcart nominee and co-author of We’ve Been Too Patient, her work is featured in The Mad Studies Reader, Trauma, Tresses & Truth, and various other anthologies and publications. Find more of her work at kelechiubozoh.com.