Photo cred—Stormseeker
Beyoncé’s ‘Love Drought’ music video from her 2016 LEMONADE album pays tribute to the Igbo people, who resisted enslavement during the Middle Passage. Originating from southeastern Nigeria, the Igbo were among the millions forcibly brought to the Americas, with an estimated 44% of enslaved Africans in the US between 1751 and 1805 hailing from the Bight of Biafra—present day southeastern Nigeria.
In 1803, at a quiet stretch of the Georgia coast, a group of enslaved Igbo captives made a choice that would echo across centuries and across time. Known as the Igbo Landing, the captives’ collective act of defiance in which they walked into the water, choosing death over bondage, became more than just an event. It became a story of spiritual resistance that lives on in Black memory today.
The captives, having arrived at Dunbar Creek on St. Simons Island, revolted against their white captors shortly after landing. According to local legend and historical accounts, they sang in Igbo language and waded into the water, preferring to drown rather than to submit to enslavement. “The water spirit brought us home,” some retellings say, linking this act to the deep cosmology of the Igbo people where water is a spiritual gateway.
For generations, the story of Igbo Landing was passed down in African American communities as a testament to dignity and refusal. In the mid-20th century, scholars like Roswell King documented these events, while oral traditions among Gullah Geechee communities kept the memory alive in folktales and rituals. The site itself, though partially submerged by development, remains a place of quiet pilgrimage. Each year, community members and artists gather to celebrate the spirits of those who refused the shackles.
The symbolism of Igbo Landing resonates deeply in contemporary Black life as a cultural touchstone for movements that link personal agency to collective liberation. In the 1970s, artists like Julie Dash wove the Igbo Landing into films such as Daughters of the Dust, telling the story in a way that spoke to Black feminist power and heritage. Daughters of the Dust inspired the imagery for Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade’s track “Love Drought.”
Across the American South today, commemorations are growing. The annual Igbo Landing Festival in Brunswick, Georgia, draws descendants of enslaved communities, historians, and artists. Drummers lead processions that end with prayers and offerings to the water, showing the spiritual dimension of this rebellion.
The Igbo Landing’s message of refusal, self-determination, and spiritual power feels especially urgent for Black consciousness. We recognize the currents of resilience that keep Black dreams afloat, century after century.
