Throughout African folklore and spirituality, there are stories of water deities.
Orisha Yemonja, turned Yemaya, became the ocean on which our enslaved ancestors traveled throughout the Middle Passage.
During enslavement, certain bodies of water were pivotal for rebellion. Some enslaved Africans chose to revolt onboard ships, attacking enslavers before jumping into the sea.
Runaways depended on rivers to hide their scent from trackers and foraged for food in swamps.
In Louisiana, there are still religious communities that hold river baptisms. Those water rituals can be traced back to Africa.
The San people of southern Africa held rainmaking ceremonies. When anti-Black missionaries attempted to convert them, the San people didn’t trust them because, for all the power they claimed their God had, they couldn’t make it rain.
Toni Morrison once said, “All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was.” Changing from gas, to liquid, to ice, water's natural state is freedom.
The adult human body is 60% water, meaning the lessons of freedom water carries lives within us.
How can we look to water to help us remember that, prior to colonization and enslavement, our primary mode of being was free?
We can use our watery rememberings to pour into creating futures dripping in liberation.