A ferry dock carrying at least 20 people collapsed on Georgia’s Sapelo Island Saturday, killing at least seven people and injuring eight others, with search and rescue efforts ongoing. The collapse—the cause of which is still under investigation—came amid an annual celebration for the island’s descendants of enslaved African Americans.
Sapelo Island is a 16,500-acre island located 60 miles south of Savannah, accessible from the coast by a 20-minute boat ride. The island is home to around 70 members of the Hogg Hummock community, a group descended from formerly enslaved African Americans who purchased land there after the Civil War.
Through separation from the mainland, the Hogg Hummock—like other coastal southeastern communities of formerly enslaved African Americans broadly known as Gullah-Geechee—managed to retain much of their Indigenous West African culture and traditions, including skills like cast-net fishing and basket weaving.
Sapelo Island is a protected property that includes full-time residents and a research reserve. Learn more about the island’s history here.
Commentaires