Enslaved Ibo sometimes suicided expecting souls to return to Africa.

Evidence

The Ibo were good fieldworkers but also believed in “the doctrine of the transmigration of souls”; they often killed themselves so that their souls would return to Africa. To dissuade others, planters sometimes cut off or mutilated the head of an Ibo who had committed suicide, reasoning that the Ibo would not want to appear in their homeland disfigured. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 152

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

Broader Connections