In May of 1803, a group of Eboes, enslaved Africans from what is now Nigeria, were being transported on a ship from the west coast of Africa to the Americas. They were crammed together in the hold of the ship, chained and beaten, and forced to endure the horrors of the Middle Passage.
One night, as they were sailing across the Atlantic, the Eboes began to sing and chant together. Their voices rose up in a powerful chorus, and their bodies began to move with a rhythmic energy that seemed to defy the chains that bound them.
Suddenly, the ship was lifted up into the air, rising higher and higher until it was flying through the clouds. The Eboes continued to sing and dance, their spirits unbroken by the cruelty and violence they had endured.
As the ship flew over the ocean, the Eboes could see the land of their ancestors in the distance, and they knew that they were flying towards freedom. They soared over the mountains and valleys of Africa, and then over the forests and rivers of the Americas, until they finally reached a place where they could safely land.
Legend has it that the Eboes became known as the Flying Africans, and that their descendants still carry their spirit of resistance and resilience today. They remind us that even in the face of unimaginable suffering and oppression, we can still find ways to rise above it, and to fight for a better world.
“Kum buba yali, Kum bub tambe, Kum konku yali, Kum konku tambe…”