It’s been one year since seven people were killed after a gangway collapsed at a Gullah Geechee Cultural Day at Sapelo Island.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Saturday marked a grim anniversary as it’s been one year since a gangway collapse at Sapelo Island in coastal Georgia sent at least 20 people into the water, and seven died – including four people from Jacksonville.
Gullah Geechee heritage is what the Sapelo seven were celebrating when tragedy struck, so a Jacksonville city council member has that in mind while working to add a monument to honor the Sapelo Seven.
“It’s been a year, but we have a lifetime to celebrate their memory,” said Jacksonville City Council Member Rahman Johnson.
Johnson says he’s spent the past year learning about the seven people who were killed in the Sapelo Island gangway collapse, trying to find a way to celebrate their legacies.
“We’ve done even more research and learned about Sapelo Island,” said Johnson. “Learned why they were there, the processes. Right now, it’s more about celebration than anything.”
Johnson doesn’t want to lose sight of what the Sapelo Seven were doing when the gangway collapsed – they were at Sapelo Island for a Gullah Geechee Cultural Day.
 “What it was is to really celebrate a part of American history that in some ways is forgotten,” said Johnson.
According to the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, Gullah Geechee refers to descendants of enslaved African people, who created a new culture that mixed African traditions to create a unique blend of language, art, food and music.
That history is already honored at Freedom Park in East Arlington, and Johnson wants to add to that in honor of the Sapelo Seven – with a big boulder.
“We wanted something that would speak to legacy,” said Johnson. “How much more different can we be than stone?”
Johnson launched a survey for folks to weigh in on what they’d like to see inscribed on the plaque that will go with the boulder.
 That plaque will also have a QR code visitors will be able to scan to take them to a deeper dive into Gullah Geechee culture from the Jacksonville public library.
 “I’m glad we’re able to find a way so their families can come to see their sacrifice wasn’t in vain,” said Johnson. “It allows us, whether they be black folk, white folk or candy-striped folk to come and say, ‘This is a part of our history we can celebrate.”
While the City of Jacksonville works on the monument for the Sapelo Seven, there have been a lot of other developments in the year since this happened.
An investigation into the collapse, new gangways installed and a lawsuit filed by the survivors all within the past year.
Come next month, Johnson hopes that boulder will be installed to go along with these Gullah Geechee plaques.