Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, the first Africa-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet.
*Agbedo, a Professor of Linguistics, Fellow, Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study Amsterdam, is a contributing analyst to USAfrica.
On November 4, 2025, a defining moment unfolded at the Princess Alexandra Auditorium, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). Before an august gathering of scholars, dignitaries, and culture bearers, Mayor Griffin Lotson, Vice-Chairman Emeritus of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission, USA, delivered a profoundly evocative lecture titled “Africa (Nigeria) and United States of America (USA) Gullah Geechee Connections”. The lecture itself was a luminous exploration of historical memory, cultural kinship, and intellectual diplomacy between the Igbo of Nigeria and the Gullah Geechee of the United States.
Yet, the emotional crescendo of the occasion came when Mayor Lotson — a direct fifth-generation descendant of the enslaved “Eboe” people – formally handed over to my humble self, convener and facilitator of the Lecture, the John Couper and James Hamilton List of Enslaved Eboe People, dated January 1, 1806, for onward submission the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Prof Simon Ortuanya ably represented by Director of Academic Planning, Prof. Anthony A. Attama. The hand-over of the Couper and Hamilton List marked a symbolic homecoming – a 222-year journey of spirits returning home from across the Atlantic.
The document, containing the names of 181 enslaved Igbo men, women, and children, including those under Thomas Spalding, stands as one of the most haunting and humanizing records of the Igbo Landing of 1803 at St. Simons Island, Georgia. For centuries, this tragic yet inspiring episode of transatlantic slavery has lingered in memory and myth – of the “Eboe” (Igbo) who, choosing death over bondage, walked into the waters of Dunbar Creek singing, “The water spirit bring we home.” Now, through Mayor Griffin Lotson’s symbolic return and his handover of the List, that myth has crossed from folklore to history, from legend to legacy. The “Eboe” have, in a literal and spiritual sense, swum back home – their names no longer drowned, but recovered; their story no longer fragmented, but restored to its ancestral archive.
In vesting custody of this priceless historical record in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Mayor Lotson has conferred more than a document; he has conferred a sacred trust. UNN, as the cradle of tertiary education in Igbo land, thus assumes a dual identity: as a citadel of learning and a sanctuary of collective memory. This development carries monumental implications for the Faculty of Arts, which hosted the event in partnership with the Pat Ikechukwu Ndukwe Sociolinguistic Laboratory (PINSLAB) Research Group, Directorate of Research, UNN, Council of Igbo States in Americas (CISA), Igbo World Assembly (IWA), and Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide. It extends the boundaries of scholarship beyond textual analysis into the living repository of Diasporic reconnections. It invites new research in Afro-Atlantic studies, Igbo diaspora identity, memory and trauma studies, and transnational cultural diplomacy. The list, now domiciled within the University’s institutional memory, deserves to be preserved as a historical monument for Ndigbo – a place of pilgrimage and reflection for all descendants of the Middle Passage.
The handover resonates far beyond the walls of academia. For Ndigbo in the homeland and diaspora, it represents a reclamation of identity long fragmented by the cruelty of the slave trade. The tragedy of 1803 is no longer a tale of nameless victims; it is now a narrative of remembered ancestors whose courage and resistance redefined the meaning of freedom. For centuries, African history was written by others – and often, against Africans. The preservation of this List within an African institution like UNN is a radical act of intellectual sovereignty – reclaiming the authority to tell our own story, in our own voice, on our own soil. It symbolically reverses the dislocation of the Middle Passage: those taken away now return as names, as heritage, as light.
The implications are multidimensional. Culturally, the event reawakens a consciousness of shared ancestry between the Igbo and the Gullah Geechee – two peoples divided by water but united by memory. It encourages the rebuilding of kinship bridges through language, music, food, and folklore. The “Kumbaya” song, traced to Gullah Geechee and now globally popular, finds new resonance as a hymn of unity and healing. Educationally, this opens avenues for bilateral collaboration between Nigerian and American institutions – through academic exchanges, research fellowships, and cultural immersion programmes. The Faculty of Arts, by hosting Mayor Lotson, positions itself as a hub for Afro-Diasporic studies and heritage diplomacy – turning memory into curriculum and grief into global partnership.
Socially and politically, this gesture reinforces a growing transatlantic consciousness, a bridge between the old and new worlds. It redefines diplomacy not merely in statecraft, but in peoplehood, where culture becomes the strongest bond of unity. Economically, heritage tourism stands to gain. The anticipated Igbo Landing Memorial at UNN, once fully realized, will attract scholars, tourists, and descendants of the African diaspora seeking ancestral reconnection, transforming memory into sustainable development.
Perhaps the most profound meaning of this event lies in its symbolism. By handing over the List, Mayor Griffin Lotson, whose triumphant homecoming was substantially
facilitated by the Chairman of the Faculty Distinguished Lecture Series and Chairman, Board of President, Council of Igbo States in Americas (CISA) and Igbo World Assembly (IWA), Dr. Nwachukwu A. Anakwenze (Onowu / Regent of Abagana), did not just transfer a document; he performed a spiritual restitution. It was an act of historical justice, emotional healing, and trans-generational reconciliation. It tells the world that the story of slavery is not only about chains and captivity but also about resilience, remembrance, and rebirth. The Eboe (Igbo) who once chose the waters now stand tall in the halls of learning. Their descendants, once scattered, now reconnect through scholarship and song. The Atlantic has ceased to be a boundary; it has become a bridge.
As the event drew to a close, the atmosphere was charged with a mix of solemnity and pride – the feeling that something sacred had happened. For Mayor Lotson, it marked a full circle: the return of the descendant to the land of his forebears. For the University of Nigeria, it marked a new chapter in academic diplomacy and cultural leadership. And for
Ndigbo, it marked the homecoming of a lost generation – not as victims of history, but as victors over oblivion. Indeed, the waters that once swallowed our ancestors have now delivered them home. The Eboe (Igbo) have returned, not in chains, but in names; not as ghosts, but as guides; not in despair, but in dignity. In honouring them, the University of Nigeria has not only preserved history; it has healed it. Welcome home, to Mother earth of Ndigbo! Nnọọ!
