In the midst of the Federal erasing of African American history, the city of Darien, Georgia, unveiled a historic marker on Sunday, April 13, to acknowledge the first recorded arrival in 1526 of a shipment of captive Africans to the U.S. mainland.

The Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers (MPCPMP) provided in-depth research and funding and negotiated with the city of Darien to install the marker. Darien borders Sapelo Sound. MPCPMP is a national non-profit whose mission is to honor African ancestors who were transported during the more than 350 years of the trans-Atlantic human trade,

The history of captive Africans in Georgia predates by 93 years the 1619 arrival of Africans to the English colony of Virginia. Arriving on the southeastern coast of North America with 600 colonists, approximately 100 enslaved African men were transported with them by Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon to establish the Spanish settlement of San Miguel de Gualdape off the Georgia coast at Sapelo Sound.

It failed after two months due to various factors, among them:  loss of provisions, unseasonably cold weather, illness and death (including Ayllon), dissent among the surviving colonists, and hostilities from the native people and the Africans.   

This alliance between the “first” (Indigenous) and the “forced” (Africans) reflects a pattern of resistance, rebellion, and collaboration against enslavement and loss of freedom that continued over centuries. In the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, Sapelo Sound is a UNESCO Routes of Enslaved Peoples Project Site of Memory and Heritage and an International Coalition Site of Conscience.

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