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J W's Album: Wall Photos
Zora Neale Hurston located the last surviving captive of the last slave ship to bring African captives to the United States. Cudjo Lewis, originally named Kossula was born in Benin. In 1860 he was kidnapped by a neighboring tribe, sold into slavery and held captive on the ship Clotilda. Although, the African slave trade had been banned in 1807, slave traders continued the practice and snuck captives into the country. After disembarking in Alabama, the Clotilda was burned and the remains of the ship were hidden until 2018, when it was recovered. After emancipation, Cudjo and other captives of the Clotilda petitioned to be sent back to West Africa. After the government refused this request and other forms of reparations for being stolen from their homeland, the men and women saved their money and started their own town, named “Africatown” near Mobile, Alabamaa. Perhaps because of the vernacular language of Lewis that she refused to change, Hurston was unable to find a publisher. In 2018, her book titled Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” was finally published 88 years after she wrote it. Photo courtesy of The Erik Overbey Collection, The Doy Leale McCall Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of South Alabama
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