Daughters of the Dust

Kojo was the first enslaved African to reach the Sea Islands, brought over by Spanish soldiers in the 16th century. During his enslavement, Kojo was stripped of his African name and given many other names in the language of his enslavers. Kojo befriended the Indigenous Americans on the islands, who were similarly oppressed by the Spanish. The Spanish soldiers erroneously believed that the islands were rich with gold and pushed the Indigenous Americans to show them the location of the supposed riches. When they were unable to do so, the soldiers began killing Indigenous elders.

One day, the enslaved people were visited by an old woman, who gave them an herbal salve and ordered them to cover their bodies with it. She then led everyone to a hill used as an Indigenous American ritual burial ground and announced that there was gold underneath it. The Spanish soldiers eagerly charged ahead, only to be attacked by roused spirits. A fierce battle broke out. Kojo took a bullet from a Spanish soldier but discovered that the salve rendered him immune to injury. He proceeded to kill all but one soldier, who ran back to the village to raise the alarm. Standing over the bodies of the dead, he declared, “My name is Kojo!” (167).