SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — The Weeping Time Commemoration Committee is hosting its 2023 commemoration honoring the 429 people who were sold during what has been documented as the largest sale of enslaved Africans in U.S. history. 

Learn about the history of the event that occurred on March 2 and 3, 1859 in Savannah. The five-day event begins at the Beach Institute on Thursday, Mar. 2 at 5:30 PM.

The commemoration ceremony will be held on March 4 at 10 a.m. on the Otis J. Brock III Elementary School campus.

The event concludes on Sunday, March 6, at 1 p.m. in Savannah State University’s Asa Gordon Library.

See the full schedule of events below.

  • Thursday, March 2nd (first day of the 1859 Weeping Time Slave Sale)
    • 5:30PM – 8:00PM
      The Beach Institute African American Cultural Center
      502 E Harris Street, Savannah, GA 31401
      The Genealogy of The Weeping Time – Tracking/Tracing Butler Descendants
      Panel Discussion led by Dr. Kwesi DeGraft Hanson
      Video Presentation NICKA SMITH Genealogist
      Host – Dr. Johnathan Winbush
  • Friday, March 3rd (second day of the 1859 Weeping Time Slave Sale)
    • 10:30 – 11:30AM
      Otis J. Brock Elementary School
      1804 Stratford St., Savannah, GA 31415
      Teaching the Future about The Past – Dr. Kwesi DeGraft Hanson
    • 1:00PM – 2:30PM
      Georgia Southern University – Armstrong Campus. Gullah Geechee Center.
      13040 Abercorn St., Savannah, GA 31410
      The Genealogy of The Weeping Time – Tracking/Tracing People and Place
      Panel Discussion led by Dr. Kwesi DeGraft Hanson
      Video Presentation NICKA SMITH Genealogist
      Host Dr. Jamal Touré
    • 5:00 PM
      Butler Island Plantation 7777 Butler Island Road, Darien, GA 31305
      Twilight Ceremony – Light Up Butler Island
      You may bring a solar light to place on the paths of Butler Island in memoriam.
      5:30PM – Libations/Ceremony
      Host – Mother Eunice Moore / Darien Community
  • Saturday, March 4th
    • 9:00 AM
      Georgia Historical Society Marker Commemorating The Weeping Time
      2053 Augusta Ave,
      Savannah, GA 31415
      Libations and Laying of the Wreath
    • 10:00AM -12PM
      Otis J. Brock Elementary School
      1804 Stratford St., Savannah, GA 31415
      2023 Weeping Time Commemoration Ceremony Keynote – Dr. R. Candy Tate – Darien Descendant, Visiting Professor of Art History,
      Tuskegee University
      You’re encouraged to bring Your Umbrella for the Moment of Silence
    • 2:00PM – 4:00PM
      Gathering at Butler Island.       Storytelling / Libations Ceremony
      Butler Island Plantation
      7777 Butler Island Road (Hwy.17), Darien, GA 31305
      Mother Eunice Moore and Community- Host
  • Sunday, March 5th
    2:00PM – 4:00PM
    2023 Weeping Time Commemoration Ceremony, Darien
    St. Cyprians Church (built by freedmen and women; former Butler enslaved)
    401 Fort King George Dr.
    Darien, GA 31305
    Ms. Clara Rowsey-Stewart – Host

  • Monday, March 6th
    1:00PM – 2:30PM
    Savannah State University Asa H. Gordon Library
    2200 Tompkins Rd Savannah, GA 31404.
    Beyond Boundaries of The Weeping Time – A Genealogy of People and Place
    Panel Discussion led by Dr. Kwesi DeGraft Hanson
    Video Presentation NICKA SMITH Genealogist
    Hosts – Friends of the Library