As people gather on Saturday to commemorate 405 years since the first landing of enslaved Africans at Fort Monroe in Hampton, the event will have special significance this year.
The Fort Monroe Authority , National Park Service, Project 1619, Inc. , and the City of Hampton are hosting the annual African Landing Day Commemoration and Soil Blending Ceremony at Fort Monroe Saturday.
The event begins at 10am at the future side of the African Landing Memorial, a national monument that will honor the lives of the enslaved Africans stolen from the African country of Africa and taken to modern-day Hampton by English enslavers in 1619. The $9 million monument project— a collaboration between the Tucker family, descended from the first Africans who arrived in 1619, the Fort Monroe Authority, and the Fort Monroe National Monument— is slated to be completed in 2026.
Watch: African Landing Memorial at Fort Monroe honors enslaved Africans and descendants
African Landing Memorial at Fort Monroe honors enslaved Africans and descendants