AFRICATOWN, AL,(WGNO) —At around 1860, the Clotilda cargo ship arrives in Mobile Bay. The Clotilda is the last known ship to carry enslaved Africans to the United States. It was an illegal ship that arrived 53 years after slave transportation from Africa the United States was outlawed.
An enslaved man at the age of 19, named Cudjoe Lewis, was aboard the Clotilda. Lewis would help to form what is known today as Africatown. Africatown was formed in 1872.
During Lewis’ lifetime, he would experience a condensed amount of some of America’s most iconic periods. Lewis would experience the middle passage of slavery, slavery itself, emancipation, reconstruction, the formation of Jim Crow laws and World War One.
Amanda Lima is the Communications Specialist at the Amistad Research Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. Lima says, “these are obviously huge periods in American history. For one individual to experience that and have it documented and have a bunch of other individuals who experienced that, all in one place, is very incredibly important for American history.”
Africatown survives today as part of Mobile, Alabama. It was a thriving community until the early 1900’s when various acts, including environmental racism, along with neighboring industry in the area, would suffocate the community. Across the highway from the cemetery is the historic Union Missionary Baptist Church. The mission of Pastor, Derek L. Tucker is to help resurrect the community and help to preserve an accurate account of the story of the Clotilda and Africatown. Pastor Tucker has collected quite a bit of research surrounding the Clotilda and the overall community.
“My responsibility is to tell the story of the church. The descendants will tell their story. We want to revitalize the community to be self-sustaining again,” says Pastor Tucker.
The Amistad Research Center is an immensely important resource of research material surrounding the story of African Americans in the United States. Amistad seeks to empower the residents of Africatown to be stewards of their own history. Amistad is teaching Pastor Tucker and other residents how to document and catalogue artifacts. It’s a very profound effort because many of the residents have tangible materials and stories that are passed down through the generations, from enslaved ancestors.
The hope is that the community will soon open a museum later this year. There is also a goal to not stop only with a museum and welcome center, but to encourage economic growth and ownership within the community.
“We are helping them, by gaining the necessary tools and training to make them archivists. The future museum, is founded and created by community members who are descendants of the original Africatown members. The stories and artifacts passed down stayed in the community. The individuals forming the museum are representing the voices of the original founders. We’ve helped them record oral histories passed down from their ancestors. All of the recordings are staying in Africatown,” says Lima.
“The key to our future is knowing who we are, where we come from and our culture,” says Pastor Tucker.