{"id":2499,"date":"2019-08-19T21:04:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-19T21:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=2499"},"modified":"2025-04-28T21:06:36","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T21:06:36","slug":"event-commemorates-first-african-landing-in-virginia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2019\/08\/19\/event-commemorates-first-african-landing-in-virginia\/","title":{"rendered":"Event commemorates first African landing in Virginia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In August 1619, more than 20 Africans landed at Old Point Comfort, the present-day Ft. Monroe in Hampton, Va., and were forced into labor as slaves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was the beginning of the slave trade in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This month, 400 years after that humiliating and disgraceful day, the city of Hampton will commemorate \u201cAfrican Landing Day.\u201d The three-day commemoration, which begins Aug. 23, will include a host of special guests and a variety of history tours, education programs and special exhibits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the objectives we want to achieve is to correct history,\u201d said retired Lt. Col. Claude Vann, the Hampton 2019 Commission co-chair. \u201cI think history has done the African-American a disservice because we have never been told what our real history was. For the folks here at Hampton, particularly, we were taught that the first African landed in Jamestown. Well, that\u2019s incorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The place where the first African landed was Point Comfort, described by PRI.org<\/a> as, \u201cAs far east as you can get in Virginia \u2014 on a peninsula that extends out into the Chesapeake Bay.\u201d To get to it, you have to cross a bridge over a moat. On the other side is the largest stone fort in America \u2014 Ft. Monroe \u2014 encompassing 565 acres, according to PRI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe city saw the importance of this commemoration early on and they created a commission within the city for it,\u201d said Luci Cochran, the executive director of the Hampton History Museum. \u201cThis is a history that so many people are not aware of and we want people to understand that the landing of the first African is a thread that shaped everything. It shaped our country and it continues to affect our country today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a news release, the commemoration kicks off on Friday (Aug. 23) at 12:00 p.m. at the Hampton Roads Convention Center, where Byron Pitts of ABC Nightline<\/em>, and formerly of CBS Evening News<\/em> and 60 Minutes<\/em>, will host the African-American Political Firsts Luncheon featuring panelists; Kentucky Lt. Governor Jenean Hampton, L. Douglas Wilder, former governor of Virginia; Rep. Bobby Scott, and former mayor and North Carolina State Sen. Howard Lee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday, at 9:30 a.m. in Continental Park, Ft. Monroe, the 2019 Commemoration of the First African Landing Ceremony will include remarks from CNN political contributor Van Jones and remarks and greetings from Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam; Sen. Mark Warner, Sen. Tim Kaine, Scott and Dr. Joseph Green, Jr., chair of 400 Years of African American History Federal Commission. The ceremony will feature African drumming and the I.C. Norcom High School Choir from Portsmouth, Va. Following the ceremony from 11:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., there will be musical performances by Cheick Hamala Diabate, a Grammy-nominated world music artist; EMA Live, and RaJazz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The evening concludes with a concert from Common, with Minnesota\u2019s Sounds of Blackness,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday\u2019s events, dubbed Day of Healing, will include a bell ringing across the United States, gospel choir performances, and a keynote speech by Dr. Michael Eric Dyson. The day will feature a National Park Service town hall, libation ceremony, blessing of the land, a tribute to the ancestors with a release of 400 butterflies and Ghanaian drumming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom a historian\u2019s perspective, we hope people will take away that all of this wasn\u2019t an accident,\u201d said Beth Austin of the Hampton History Museum, who conducted much of the research. \u201cIt happened in a global context both in terms of the wider Atlantic world in 1619 and it had the enormous global impact. The slave trade and the practice of slavery in America impacted the New World and Africa and it\u2019s had a very long-term and profound legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about the 2019 Commemoration of the First African Landing in Hampton, Va., visit www.firstafricanlanding.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In August 1619, more than 20 Africans landed at Old Point Comfort, the present-day Ft. Monroe in Hampton, Va., and were forced into labor as slaves.  That was the beginning of the slave trade in America. This month, 400 years after that humiliating and disgraceful day, the city of Hampton will commemorate \u201cAfrican Landing Day.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1554,1555,342],"class_list":["post-2499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-old-point-comfort","tag-slave-trade","tag-slaves","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2499"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2500,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499\/revisions\/2500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}