Weeping Time authority could have big impact on west side
Local efforts to commemorate the Weeping Time, one of the largest sales of enslaved people in U.S. history, have gained momentum over the past couple of decades.
A historical marker was dedicated in 2008, and the annual commemoration of the splintering of so many families has grown into several days of events, attracting hundreds of local residents and visitors.
As interest grows, the marker in a small park along Augusta Avenue seems increasingly inadequate to convey the scale and misery of the Weeping Time. As noted on the marker itself, the event took on even greater importance in American history since it “was reported extensively in the northern press and reaction to the sale deepened the nation’s growing sectional divide in the years immediately preceding the Civil War.”
The Weeping Time was once thought to be the largest slave sale in U.S. history, but a researcher in 2022 found an advertisement for an 1835 sale of 600 people in Charleston. That such large-scale atrocities could be lost to history provides even more reasons for their commemoration.
During a ceremony this spring, former Savannah mayor Otis Johnson noted the limitations of the marker, which is some distance from the site of the former Ten Broeck Race Course where the sale took place. “We wanted to start somewhere, and this is where it started,” Johnson said.
Now the Weeping Time is poised to be a springboard for expanding the area’s historical narrative and for fostering community and economic development in greater West Savannah.
As detailed in recent coverage by Evan Lasseter in this newspaper, the Georgia house and senate unanimously approved the creation of the Weeping Time Cultural Heritage Corridor Authority, which will pursue projects in the West Savannah, Woodville and Hudson Hill neighborhoods. According to the text of HB1425, the authority’s purpose will be “the promotion and provision of community and educational resources related to the Weeping Time, Gullah Geechee culture and history, and the journey of African Americans from slavery to freedom on the coast of Georgia.” That’s an ambitious charge. Assuming the legislation is signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, the authority will have five unpaid members selected by the local delegation.
Early on, the authority should try to put to rest the ongoing controversy about the exact location of the Weeping Time and about the historical relevance of the site where the Salvation Army has planned a transitional shelter.
An archeological survey and the research of Kwesi DeGraft-Hanson provide substantial evidence about the site of the sale, but additional study will be worth the time if it allays community concerns.
The new authority should also set the wheels in motion for the acquisition of the site, which has been in private hands for many years. That could be a long, expensive and complicated process, but the location should eventually be memorialized in the landscape.
Along the way, the authority might be able to leverage various kinds of support from the city and propose appropriate uses of revenue from the next Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST).
To their credit, city officials have taken numerous steps to broaden the historical narrative in recent months, including the renaming of Taylor Square and the partnership with the Georgia Historical Society for a marker near the Montmillon Building, but the nonprofit Trust for Public Land estimated in 2022 that only 3% of national historic sites are devoted to African-American history.
With various partners and enough community support, the new Weeping Time authority could play a vital role in telling a more inclusive history of the Georgia coast.