Savannah, Ga., February 26, 2019 - The Georgia Historical Society invites the media and the public to attend two events this weekend commemorating the 160th anniversary of “The Weeping Time,” the largest slave sale in recorded American history.
The History of the Weeping Time
In 2008 the Georgia Historical Society and the City of Savannah erected a
historical marker near the site of the race course where the sale took
place.
From the marker text: One of the largest sales of enslaved persons in
U.S. history took place on March 2-3, 1859, at the Ten Broeck Race
Course (in Savannah).... To satisfy his creditors, Pierce M. Butler sold
436 men, women, and children from his Butler Island and Hampton
plantations near Darien, Georgia. The breakup of families and the loss
of home became part of African-American heritage remembered as "the
weeping time." The event 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.
On Saturday, March 2, 2019, at 10:00 a.m., GHS, in partnership with Oceans, Inc. (Organization to Commemorate Enslaved African American Nationals), Journey By Faith, Ivory Bay Community Development Corporation, Otis J. Brock III Elementary School, Solomon Temple Church of God In Christ, and Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission,
will hold a public program at Otis J. Brock Elementary School, located
at 1804 Stratford Street in Savannah. To recall torrential rain that
reportedly fell throughout the sale in 1859, the public is invited to
bring umbrellas to Saturday's event in order to participate in a moment
remembance.
On Sunday, March 3, at 2:00 p.m., the Georgia
Historical Society, along with the Vanderkloot Fund and the Lower
Altamaha Historical Society, will dedicate a new historical marker on
Butler Island in Darien, Georgia. The dedication site is along US
Highway 17/Scenic Coastal Highway on Butler Island, in front of the
Huston house. The historical marker relays the story of the enslaved
people who labored under Pierce M. Butler at Butler Island and were
later sold during the Weeping Time to settle Butler’s debts. Speakers
include the Georgia Historical Society’s Dr. W. Todd Groce and Lower
Altamaha Historical Society’s Wes Tippins and Eunice Moore.
For more information regarding this weekend’s events, please visit the
GHS event calendar. Members of the media should contact Patricia
Meagher, GHS Director of Communications at (912) 651-2125, ext. 153 or
by email at pmeagher@georgiahistory.com.
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