HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — The Fort Monroe Authority is working to honor the history of the first Africans to land at Point Comfort. They plan to break ground on the 1619 Landing Memorial this summer and 10 On Your Side got an early look at the project.
The Fort Monroe Authority said it’s working to bring this powerful history to life in order to give people a better understanding of what happened on the lengthy journey to get here.
“The plaza was designed to welcome people, create a ceremonial space that could be expanded into the green space beyond,” said Glenn Oder, Fort Monroe Authority’s executive director. “But one of the key components of the memorial is the alignment of the sculptures so that they they align with a line in the plaza that actually points you directly across the bay, across the ocean to Angola, Africa. It’s a geographical connection that people would not normally realize, right here at Point Comfort.”
Oder said this memorial is meant to bring about powerful moments for people who come to see it.
He said the Fort Monroe Authority worked with Florida artist Brian Owens on the project.
“What if the pointer geographically perfectly aligned you across the bay, across Virginia Beach, across the ocean, with the door of no return in Angola, Africa, where they came from,” Oder said.
He said it creates an interpretive opportunity for people who want to know more, not only about the landing site, but also how the first Africans got here.
“We don’t talk much about Africa, but imagine if we were to build a memorial that explained to people that the Africans had government, they had commerce, they had education, they had agronomy, agricultural and all those skills they had there,” Oder said. “Once they ended up here, they brought with them those skills, and those skills contributed to the entire survival of the colonies.”
Oder said through sketches, Owens will show their journey from governance, to their rural life, the resistance and even the battle they faced at sea.
“The ship was involved in a battle,” Oder said. “They were taken off of that ship, put on another ship and brought to Point Comfort, and here at Point Comfort when they merged into the colony here, [put in the forced labor here is where they made contributions, which, quite frankly, helped this colony survive.”
The memorial also will feature a sculpture of Antony and Isabella Tucker and their baby, William, the first Black child born in America.
Oder said Owens spent a lot time embracing the history and the story of their journey.
He said whether you’ve been here before or you’re seeing it for first time, you’re going to understand it differently.
“I like the truth that is in the memorial,” Oder said, “and I like the effort that the Fort Monroe Authority has gone to to make sure that this is factual information that will maybe cause us to to revisit and rethink the narratives that we were originally taught about history.”
Oder said they plan to break ground on the plaza later this summer, but it will take some time for the entire memorial to be complete.
Currently, there are some rocks that you can sit on and reflect, along with a sand-filled line pointing to Angola if you want to go see it in the meantime.
State and federal funding is making up a portion of the funding for the project, but if you’d like to help, click here.