This week marks the anniversary of Savannah's darkest, saddest days.
The largest slave sale in history happened here, at a horse racing track west of downtown, 159 years ago this Friday. A plantation owner out of Pennsylvania auctioned 436 men, women and children over two days. An unceasing rain fell throughout the sale, making it forever known by a chilling moniker.
The weeping time.
Monday's Commentary page will include a submission from Kwesi DeGraft-Hanson with the Organization to Commemorate Enslaved African-American Nationals, or OCEANS. He recounts the history in detail, starting with the lead-up to the sale throughout the week.
The read is one of the most engrossing and stomach-churning most of us will lay eyes on in our lifetimes. He tells the story better than we ever could, so we'll leave the narrative to him.
But we will reinforce a call DeGraft-Hanson makes near the end of his column and encourage readers to attend a commemoration event scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday at Brock Elementary School, which stands on the same site as the 1859 sale. Attendees are asked to bring umbrellas as symbolic representations of the enslaved people who, standing in the rain 159 years ago, were sold as God wept.
For many, regardless of skin color, this commemoration will be an uncomfortable two hours. It's meant to be. America's long acceptance of slavery is a stain that will forever mark this nation. We must never forget its vulgarity. In recognizing it, and shedding our own tears over it, we grow closer together.