Africatown: America's Last Slave Ship and the Community It Created

by Nick Tabor

An evocative and epic story, Nick Tabor's Africatown charts the fraught history of America from those who were brought here as slaves but nevertheless established a home for themselves and their descendants, a community which often thrived despite persistent racism and environmental pollution.

In 1860, a ship called the Clotilda was smuggled through the Alabama Gulf Coast, carrying the last group of enslaved people ever brought to the U.S. from West Africa. Five years later, the shipmates were emancipated, but they had no way of getting back home. Instead they created their own community outside the city of Mobile, where they spoke Yoruba and appointed their own leaders, a story chronicled in Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon .

That community, Africatown, has endured to the present day, and many of the community residents are the shipmates’ direct descendants. After many decades of neglect and a Jim Crow legal system that targeted the area for industrialization, the community is struggling to survive. Many community members believe the pollution from the heavy industry surrounding their homes has caused a cancer epidemic among residents, and companies are eyeing even more land for development.

At the same time, after the discovery of the remains of the Clotilda in the riverbed nearby, a renewed effort is underway to create a living memorial to the community and the lives of the slaves who founded it.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Africa, Audiobook, Race, Politics, American History

384 pages, Hardcover

First published February 21, 2023

About the author

Nick Tabor is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in New York Magazine, The New Republic, The Washington Post, Oxford American, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. Africatown is his first book. He lives in New York.

Reviews

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is such a fitting read for black history month. Very informative and yet interesting. As a Canadian I feel like this was a bit of history I knew very little about and appreciate that I was able to be educated in such a interesting manner.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me the opportunity to review this book.

[Dawn Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 years ago the bestie read "Barracoon" by Zora Neale Hurston and that was my introduction to the Clotilda and the story of the last slave ship. Fast forward to 2022 and the Ben Raines book "The Last Slave Ship" was released and my interest was intrigued even more. Then, this book popped up on NetGalley and I took it as a sign and jumped down the rabbit-hole [I have Barracoon to read next month and The Last Slave Ship, the month after]. As I absolutely love history and learning, I will never ever be sorry that I went down that rabbit-hole and started with this one. :-)

This story just about knocked me out and I am 100% sure that I will need to reread this at some point; there is just SO. MUCH. INFORMATION. From the moment the Clotilda sets sail to modern day, this is just the craziest story ever that reads like fiction, but is very, very, true. I was hooked from page one and the story just got better and more crazy and SAD SAD SAD as the book went on. I am so glad I read this and look forward to the other books about this time, the amazing people that came unwillingly and then survived and the ship that carried them and actually am looking forward to revisiting this story again as I am sure there are things that I missed and I am 100% sure there is much more for this girl to learn.

Thank you to NetGalley, Nick Tabor, and St. Martin's Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Valleri · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars, rounded up.

Expected publication: February 21st 2023

Many thanks to both St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Africatown.

The community of Africatown was founded in 1865 by the emancipated slaves who had been smuggled there on the Clotilda. The slavers burned the ship in Mobile Bay, where it was lost to history in the muddy waters of the bay until May 22, 2019, when the Alabama Historical Commission and partners announced that the wreck had been found in the bay.

Many of the community residents are the shipmates’ direct descendants, and they believe the pollution from the heavy industry surrounding their homes has caused a cancer epidemic among residents. I hope this book will open the right eyes. Enough is enough.,

I will admit to finding the second half of Africatown less interesting than the first. At times I felt as though I were reading a dry textbook.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting narrative that centres on the last slave ship to arrive in America, but which tells the story of much more than that. Africatown is a story about a place, and it’s people. A sweeping narrative that considers the history of slavery, the development and subjugation of a community, exploring historical issues like slavery and Jim Crow, as well as modern ones like historical preservation and environmental racism. It’s a broad scope, but a very interesting story. Glad to have listened to it.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even if my best friend didn’t write this book I’d give it five stars. Essential reporting about environmental racism, and something that you can point to next time some asshole conservative tries to tell you systemic racism is fake.

[Maxine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Africatown: America’s Last Slave Ship and the Community It Created by Nick Tabor is a well documented, well-researched book giving the history of the Clotilda, the last slave ship and the human cargo of 110 men, women, and children it brought from Africa to America in 1860, long after the trans-Atlantic slave trade had been banned and just before the start of the Civil War. It covers a lot of history from the capture and kidnapping of Kussola later known as Cudjo Lewis, through the years of slavery, emancipation and the decision of several of the ship mates to purchase land and create their own community first called African Town later Africatown, right up to the present and the descendants’ efforts to make Africatown a national historical site as well as their fight against the environmental racism that eventually surrounded the town.

Tabor uses both primary and secondary sources to tell the story including Zora Neale Hurston’s book Barracoon and is very careful to identify what is actually known and what is speculation. With this amount of history, there seemed the possibility, like too many books of history, to become overly pedantic or devolve into a dry information dump but Tabor manages to avoid either, making this a very interesting, highly readable and, given the political atmosphere today, a very important book.

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martin’s Presses for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Africatown is the rare example of an epic book which gets everything right. Nick Tabor has written a book which follows the last group of slaves every brought into the United States in 1860. Tabor follows the lives of these people and then looks at the community they created up until the present day. There is so much that can go wrong when you mix history, politics, and generational conflict. Often, I find these books become too unwieldy. The politics will be too one-sided, the history will be superficial, and the dizzying amount of names make it impossible for anyone to stand out. Thank you, Nick Tabor, for making me look dumb because this book is fantastic in every aspect.

The history portion of the book dealing with the Clotilda, the Civil War, and the Jim Crow era are expertly done. The reader learns about the origins of the slave trade in West Africa, the emancipation of the slaves, and how they tried to build new lives post-Civil War. Tabor creates a narrative which is short by comparison to other books on slavery but is just as effective, if not more so. If the story of Cudjo Lewis doesn't effect you then it's time for therapy.

Somehow, this book then slips into current state politics and does not lose steam. I generally hate reading about contemporary politics because you end up hearing a very one sided argument. While Tabor clearly has a point of view, he never fails to point out the valid concerns of the counter argument. This is sometimes just a single line in a much larger section, but it goes a long way in the reader trusting that the author did his homework and is being realistic and fair.

Quite simply, this is a fantastic book that everyone should read.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and St. Martin's Press. The full review will be posted to HistoryNerdsUnited.com on 3/7/2023.)

[Hattie O’Hara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really interesting topic that I’m glad to know more about as an Alabamian.

The first half of the book was rich and challenging and what I was expecting. The last half look a textbook-esque turn about modern continuations of the Africatown story through environmental racism, industry development, etc. These topics are necessary to paint the whole picture, and are typically right up my alley! But something about the presentation of info made it a real slog.

An author can’t help it if the non-fiction story they’re telling isn’t a blockbuster every step of the way, but I typically love an info-heavy book and I struggled to finish. Regardless, the first half and the topic at hand makes this absolutely worth reading.

[TAMMY CUEVAS · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently watched a documentary about the Clotilda, so I jumped at the opportunity to read this book. The ship and community are a symbol of the worst of our nation's history. The author has tried to separate fact from fiction, which can't be easy after all these years. I can't say that it is an enjoyable read (it's slavery, after all), but more Americans need to read this book.
I would like to thank Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book.

[Darcia Helle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Africatown felt like two different books.

The first half reads like the best narrative nonfiction. We follow a small group of Africans who were sold into slavery and brought to Alabama on the last slave ship, called the Clotilda. We learn about the slaves’ lives, the family who owned them, and what happened when the Civil War came to an end. This part of the story felt personal, and the heartbreak was almost tangible.

The second half of the book reads like dry text. The focus shifts to town politics, industry and pollution, and the loss of neighborhood and community. Unfortunately, this felt far less personal and tended to ramble with a lot of facts, more like reading a Wikipedia entry than an engaging narrative. While the lingering health issues for people living in the area are quite sad, I just didn’t find this part all that engaging in the way it was presented.

*I received a free copy from St. Martin’s Press.*

[Angela's Booked · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston when it came out and I was so excited to pick this up and learn more about the Clotilda and Cudjo Lewis, and I wasn’t disappointed. This was so interesting and I listened to it slowly to marinate in the information. At times it felt a little slow, but it didn’t detract from the overall interesting nature of the book. The author did a really great job in putting together this piece of history.

[David Pulliam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really neat how tabor weaves a story around the shop and neighborhood. Really interesting how he brought in the issue of environmental racism. Some of it got a bit tedious, too detailed, but overall really good.

[Jen Juenke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first 40% of the book. It was all about Lewis and the other shipmates. How they went from slavery, to starting their own town, and what happened to them and their descendants. I was intrigued by the story of his capture and his time on the ship.
I thought that he had really brought with him after slavery a sense of community to the land that they ended up buying.
The last 60% of the book dragged on and on about the industrial pollution, the ways in which Mobile City went over and through the Plateau region of the area. The author goes on about environmental racism.
This last part of the book was very dry. It had some key players, however, there was no personal touch to the accounts and there was no more sense of community. The key players were often those NOT living in the community.

I think that this book should have been two books. One focusing on the community that the ex-slaves created. The second book should be about the push to have this area outside of Mobile be the 'plymouth rock' of slaves...which was odd to me, since it wasn't so much where they landed, but where they ended up. The second book should also include the environmental racism.

Overall, a bit of a disappointing book for the subject. I learned alot about Lewis and Clotilda but the community basically disappears after the 1950s.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for this honest review.

[Marcia Meakim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nick Tabor brought the poor souls on the Clotilda to life, especially Lewis and Cudjo, and evoked so much anger towards Meaher and pity for those unfortunate Africans that were uprooted and abused. A dark time in our nation’s history for sure. I avidly read about their experiences and was so glad that most were able to remain together. They showed so much courage and determination in their quest to own their own land. I cannot imagine their anger and frustration, forced to become slaves, the inhumane situations - hiding in the cane breaks - and being treated as less than human. The research used to bring these characters to life was absolutely amazing.
The social injustice I was aware of but was surprised to read about the differences with the Republican and Democrat political views of what to do with them after they became free. I never heard of the 40 acre land redistribution promise before, but I can’t help but think what a different country the US would be if it had been kept.
I do admit that reading the rest of the book was not as easy or as interesting as the beginning. Their health struggles are very real and I admire their attempts to bring attention to Africatown and those that banded together to create the best lives they could in spite of forces working against them.
Many thanks to Nick Tabor for teaching me important history, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this soon to be published book.

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

(review copy from Netgalley for review consideration)
A very thorough examination not only of the Clotilda, the famous ship illegally carrying over 100 enslaved people of African descent, including Cudjo Kossola Lewis, "Africatown" covers the aspects of founding of the town itself by Lewis and other survivors who could trace their origins to the Clotilda, but goes into so much more.

Fans and researchers who want to know more about Zora Neale Hurston's involvement with interviewing Lewis will benefit from the amazingly detailed sections discussing this aspect of the chronicle of Africatown, how Hurston's white financial benefactor Charlotte Osgood Mason tried to work to make sure no one "scooped" "HER" story as she put it, thinking she had ownership over Lewis (as well as Hurston, and Langston Hughes, two of the most prominent writers of the Harlem Renaissance that she sponsored). She failed to see the horrible lack of understanding that she mustn't think of human beings in terms of ownership, although it is worth noting that Mason became furious at the publishers like Harper & Row who said that the book version of Hurston's interviews with Lewis, "Barracoon" (which would be posthumously published decades later), was "too full of dialect." What they weren't saying was that they didn't think white readers would "get" the book, and that they didn't think Holly Housewife would pick up a copy at the local bookstore.

In any case, Lewis's story became national news in the 1930s, but it's also important to note, as the author Tabor points out here, that his life was presented in Jim Crow journalism terms very disparagingly, as if he were an object to mock rather than a human being who had endured and prevailed in the face of unimaginable hardships, including the deaths of several of his children, and his beloved wife, and a train accident that traumatized him.

While the pacing slows down in the second half of the book, Tabor highlights the lives of the forgotten and lesser-known survivors and their descendents in this town, which once prospered, but like so many others in the South, gave way to neglect, and residents had no choice but to leave in droves. Some readers may find the sections about activism against pipelines similarly slow down the pacing of the book and get away from the main crux of Mobile, Alabama. Nonetheless, Tabor's book provides vital and crucial insights into the construction of the Clotilda, the white men behind it and how they proceeded to something illegal and got away with it and tried to hide the evidence, as well as so many more subchronicles involving a hugely significant part of American history that needs to be far more widely known and taught.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1858 despite it being illegal to transport native Africans to America for slavery, to no ones surprise at all a businessman in Alabama did just that. In the belly of the ship called the catilda men who were taken by violence and sold for slavery were wasting away in the belly of the ship. They were broken out of a dead sleep some would never see their loved ones again but their despair wasn’t over it was just beginning. This shit would never make it to the Alabama shore they were aiming for but unfortunately “the cargo“ what an even almost 2 centuries later their descendants are still fighting for fairness. From the beginning it has never been easy and unfortunately there is still those who do not care about making it even worse. This whole book read like great fiction with eyewitness details it is packed full of historical facts and events that only make the interest level of this book top knoch. From there wish to be free all the way to their wish to live in a healthy environment Africatown has never been on any list of priorities except if it made money for the already rich and affluent but thankfully there’s a grassroots group and others who wheeled enough power to make it uncomfortable but those who are important are starting to hear about this historical place created by a People that never wanted to be here to begin with. What makes this book so different from other books about in slaved African is this one has eye witness’s and first hand account of them being taken from their village it has the captains narrative the implement of the Jim Crow laws and how they affected those in Africa town and then the 21st-century the fight against having pipelines to run through their elementary school and throughout all these subjects they have other related historical facts that add’s to the books goodness. This is a well done historical story that should’ve been told before 2023 but you live and you learn and I’m so glad I got to read this. It makes me sad reading about what a peaceful respectable people do this world that were ripped out of their homes and had relatives murdered right in front of them and to think that that was just the beginning. I don’t know how anyone could read a story like this and not feel that they belong to a species of animal never identified yet. This is heartbreaking but a must read book! A total five star rating! I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes but I am blind and dictate my review.

[Book.ishJulie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Africatown by Nick Tabor is more than just your classic history book. It is a book about people’s lives that have been changed through the course of time; through slavery, emancipation, racism, environmental racism, poverty and gentrification all while these people remain members of a community desired to be remembered. It is an incredibly eye-opening book about the Clotilda, parts of Mobile, Alabama, and the people who have come to reside there, those whose lives continue to be affected daily.

Yes, I am a Canadian, so why am I learning history about the United States? Because I am a strong believer in if we don't learn from our past, history will repeat itself. Equality is a goal of mine for the world, so why would I not read a non-fiction book to further back up some of what I read about through fictional characters?

There is a lot of history in Tabor's book, starting back in 1859 to present, but it is portrayed in such a way that it is not just providing facts to the reader. With all that history, there is equally as much humanity and as much heart; it is more about a community and its people than simply stating facts in text. It's amazing how much history is in this area of the south with the Civil War, slavery and the cotton industry - I can't imagine the hours of digging and questioning that went into researching and creating this book. It just blows my mind.

I am pleased that this book is additionally available in an audiobook format for people who need that option. It is out there. It's available. And it is beyond well done.

This book is for those who seek to find solutions to racial injustice. It is for a wider understanding of the South represented in books like To Kill A Mockingbird and the slavery represented more recently in Hester. For people who believe in pollution and cancer clusters, like in the case of Hinkley, California, as shown in the movie Erin Brockovich. This is a book I look forward to rereading in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the complimentary copy to read and review.

[Daniel Dendler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. I saw it on my libraries recommend reads for history lovers and I hoped in. Read like a story so it was easily digestible. I learned so much about the slave trade and how the effects truly are still felt today around things like environmental justice and lawmaking. I loved this book and think it’s a great read for all people not just history lovers.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book traces the journey of the last known group of enslaved Africans brought to the United States on the illegal voyage of the Clotilda, a slave ship that made its crossing in 1860, nearly fifty years after the transatlantic slave trade was officially banned. Tabor’s work is a comprehensive exploration of the lives of the men and women who were forced into slavery on this illegal voyage, their resilience, and the enduring legacy of their community in Africatown, Alabama.

The structure of Africatown is both chronological and thematic, beginning with an in-depth look at the origins of the enslaved in what is now Benin, West Africa. Tabor reaches back into the history and culture of the region to provide readers with a vivid picture of the life of one of the enslaved, Kossola (known in America as Cudjo Lewis), before his capture. This detailed exploration of Kossola’s early life highlights the rich cultural traditions of his homeland, giving a human face to the often-abstract horrors of the transatlantic slave trade.

From there, the narrative shifts to the last slave ship voyage itself, a clandestine operation organized by Timothy Maeher and captained by William Foster. Tabor captures the tension and desperation of this journey, offering a sobering account of the brutal conditions faced by the captives and the lengths that slave traders went to, to avoid detection by both British anti-slave forces in the Atlantic and along the African coast and Federal authorities closer to home. The ship was sailed into Mobile bay, scuttled and burned, in an attempt to hide the evidence of their crime. The ship would lie hidden for almost 160 years.

After emancipation, the survivors of the Clotilda, many of whom remained together throughout their ordeal, founded the community of Africatown near Mobile, Alabama. This tight-knit group of former slaves recreated aspects of their African homeland in this new environment, using their shared experiences and cultural heritage to build a self-sustaining community. Tabor brings Africatown to life, describing its vibrant culture, strong communal ties, and the determination of its residents to maintain their identity despite the systemic racism and economic challenges they faced. They continued to speak Yoruba within the community for decades after the Civil War. There are still descendants of the original residents, the freed slaves brought over on the Clotilda, living in the community.

Zora Neale Hurston spent a significant amount of time with Kossola/Cudju and wrote a book Barracoon, about him. This relationship gets significant space in this book as well.

The book carries the story of Africatown up to 2022, highlighting the community's ongoing struggles, particularly in the form of environmental racism. Tabor details how petrochemical companies, with the tacit approval of state and local governments, have imposed harmful practices on Africatown, leading to significant health and environmental issues for its residents. Truck depots, chemical storage tanks, tar sand oil pipelines - everyone is trying to push in on this community because they are poor and black and don't appear to have the resources to say No. This modern-day continuation of exploitation underscores the long, lingering legacy of slavery and racism in America. The Maeher Family continues to own property in Africatown, serving largely as slum lords, and does not work to protect the community.

Despite these challenges, the community of Africatown remains a testament to its founders' and their descendants' resilience and tenacity. Tabor’s depiction of Africatown is not just a story of suffering and survival but also one of vibrancy, cultural pride, and a refusal to be erased by history.
There are also accounts of people attempting to and finally locating the wreckage of the Clotilda.
Africatown is an essential read for anyone interested in understanding the long-term effects of slavery and how its legacy continues to shape America today. Through its detailed exploration of the Clotilda survivors and their descendants, the book offers a powerful look at how a community built by former slaves has managed to endure and fight for justice across generations. It is also a strong answer to anyone who wants people to "just shut up about slavery already" - here is a clear and well written that makes the connections between the human exploitation of the antebellum South and how it is still happening today - sometimes even by and to the same families.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Clotilda is having a bit of a moment, I think (and rightly so). Last year Ben Raines released his book The Last Slave Ship: The True Story of How the Clotilda Was Found, her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning, which became an NPR Best Book of 2022. In 2018 Zora Neale Hurston's work Baracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" was rereleased and this is where I picked up my research of the Clotilda in 2019. Previously, I had only read a few of the news articles that surfaced around the time the ship was found and reading the short Baracoon left me needing more... a lot more.

And here we have Africatown, the latest tome about the Clotilda to be published. For roughly the first half of the book, the author focuses on the history surround the Clotilda's journey to and from Africa and the slaves she picked up. If you have never read anything about the Clotilda before, this will provide a succinct depiction of its history, but I found the history presented in The Last Slave Ship much more engaging.

Africatown has the unique perspective of showing the more recent history of the town through the lens of environmental racism. Along with Flint, this is perhaps one of the most glaring examples of racism in industrialization; factories contaminated the town for generations with pollution that affected the food its citizens ate and coated the town in ash that had to be regularly scrubbed from houses. The book also spends a great amount of time describing the citizens most recent history of fighting potential oil pipelines from running under their water source. Tank farms are also a large environmental concern in the area. This perspective has left me searching for more books on environmental racism, so Tabor did a great job piquing my interest to an aspect of Jim Crow I have yet to explore.

Finally, the end of Africatown discusses some miscellaneous topics that were very interesting to me, including the Meaher's descendants and their secrecy regarding anything to do with the Clotilda. Also discussed is the effort it would take to make Africatown a historical museum and removing blight. All in all, Africatown is an interesting book and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to learn more about this one of a kind community.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy of this book. As always, opinions are my own.

[Liz Helfrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

This excellent, compulsively readable work of non-fiction tells the story of the community in Alabama that grew up following the voyage of the Clothilde, which is believed to be the last ship to transport enslaved people from Africa to the United States. Africatown makes a convincing case for how systemic racism, beginning during the 19th century when the community of Plateau (as the community was originally called) was founded in the wake of the Civil War, continues to the present through the economic and environmental challenges seen in the Africatown neighborhood today. Through deep research into primary and secondary sources, some of which have only recently been uncovered (like the remains of the ship itself), the book raises important questions about how we tell stories about our past, who gets to decide what’s preserved, and why.

Likes: The book does an wonderful job of situating the personal histories of many of the people within the broader contexts of local Mobile history, Alabama history, Southern history, and American history. The personalities of those involved in the story over the decades, including Cudjo, a freedman born in Africa, the celebrated author Zora Neale Hurston and her eccentric patron, Henry Williams, the resident of Plateau most determined to have its history recognized as “Africatown, USA,” and properly preserved, and many more, jump off the page. Where possible, the book prioritizes primary sources and the voices of community members over secondary sources, and the author carefully unpacks possible bias on the part of earlier historians, reporters, and writers from outside the community.

Dislikes: really none.

FYI: descriptions of the Middle Passage, kidnapping, slavery, violence, lynching, racial terrorism, racism.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. To go ahead and answer the question I always get: out of 5 stars, statistically speaking, 2.5 is the average (mean). 2.5 isn't a "bad" rating; it's an average one. Although I do think most people (myself included) tend to pick up books that we are interested in, so Goodreads reviews skew a bit higher. That being said, I try to give an average rating to books that I didn't feel strongly about one way or the other, and this just happens to be one of them.

Africatown is divided into two nearly equal halves. The first half is a history of the Clotilda and several of the Africans who arrived with it and settled in Plateau, Alabama. The second half is about the environmental racism the town of Plateau has been subjected to, mostly in the past century. Tabor argues that to understand how Plateau came to its current situation, the reader must know the history first, which is reasonable.

The first half of the book draws heavily from Nora Zeale Hurston's oral history Barracoon. I'd never read anything about the Clotilda or Oluale Kossola, so I'm not in a position to say whether this section of the book is better or worse than any other history on the last enslaved people brought to the United States. I did find it extremely fascinating and learned quite a bit. It seems most other reviewers found this the strongest part of Africatown.

I was more interested in the environmental racism aspect, however by the time Tabor tackled the subject in the last half, it felt like a separate book and the stories more disjointed. I absolutely agree that the history of Plateau needed to be addressed first in order to better understand the current conditions, but if the purpose of the book was to explore environmental racism in Plateau it was overshadowed by the town's history in the first half.

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fabulous candid read that talks about a time in history that so few may know about. A period in the 1850s, even after the US Government made it illegal to import slaves from West Africa, a businessman from Mobile, Alabama was able to plan a way to secretly bring one last slave ship, the Clotilda. It was a time were the Deep South had an extreme demand for enslaved workers. The boat arrived via the Middle Passage in 1860 and carried 110 victims.

Not long after, the Civil War began which ended with the freeing of those enslaved. But those that were brought from their home country, had no way to get back to West Africa. Instead, they were forced to make a home for themselves in an area just outside of Mobile, Alabama that they named AfricaTown. They used their savings to purchase land and formed their own community, structured with leaders and living according to their own culture. Slowly, Black Americans moved there and their town began to thrive. But over the decades it was overwhelmed with the building of industrial businesses such as chemical & power plants, pipe manufacturing and tissue mills to name a few. Soon their way of living was polluted and highways were built to divide their land. No more were their streets lined with shops owned by Black Entrepreneurs.

It is disheartening to hear of people whose lineage is directly linked to the descendants of the ship trying to teach and maintain their family history.

It is an astonishing, well-researched read that also touches on a discovery in 2018 when a wreck was found in a ship graveyard and was said to be the Clotilda. An endearing saga of AfricaTown and its struggle to survive even in the present day.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of Africatown or the Clotilde slave ship. I have heard recently of Mobile, however, and how racism and classism has defined that city. The Clotilde was the very last American slave ship. Even after slaves were banned coming in from Africa, the promoters back in the 1850s saw dollar signs. They covertly crossed the Atlantic and brought over more than 100 lost souls bound toward slavery. That ship sunk, however, in the Mobile harbor and has not been found until relatively recently. The book is also about how unfairly treated the black people were treated at the end of the Civil War and through time until today. The book is extensive in telling the history of the area. Many of the freed slaves remained in the area which was called Africatown which included several neighborhoods in Mobile. The historical society of the area has worked to make this a historical site, but has encountered roadblock after roadblock. Two papermill plants and many other heavy industrial sites were located within Africatown. When new highways were to be built, the local government always chose to run through Africatown making it difficult to retain the culture of the area. Soon the area became a blighted mess, but the people who cared continued their lobbying efforts. I had never thought of the his before, but the author says "American blacks don't have an Ellis Island." And that is what they were hoping to do ... make this a nationally recognized site where the last slave ship went down. Many slaves were brought to this country through that harbor. The local and state governments did nothing but stall and give excuses. This is a very interesting book on the history as well as the current developments still underway in Alabama.

[AnnieM · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an absolute must-read. It traces the impact of slavery and creates an incredible through line about impacts today in this town near Mobile, Alabama. There has been a lot in the news in the past few years about finding the last slave ship called Clotilda that sank off the coast of Alabama. What is critically important about his finding is that this ship and the Meader family illegally captured slaves to bring over after slavery was outlawed. Through this book, we hear the perspectives and history of people captured in Africa and brings us through their stories and their descendants'' stories for example from Zora Neale Huston's book "Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" (which publishers did not want because of her use of dialect and unfortunately may have been somewhat plagiarized from another author's writing). This book takes us through the aftermath of slavery from Jim Crow Laws, tenant farmers, poverty and industrial pollution. The latter chapters focus on environmental justice and activism to address the unfair exposure of Africatown to harms from hazardous pollution and that exposure to environmental harms is inequitably distributed in black and brown communities overall. This book is meticulously researched and goes more in depth than the documentary "Descendent" and also other works on the Clotilda. This book is a critically important read to understand how systemic racism still exists in our society.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Daniel Koch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings on this. One one hand, the story of the Clotilda, Cudjoe Lewis, and the Africatown community through the early 20th century was fascinating. I knew nothing about the topic coming into it (I wasn't 100% sure which state Mobile was in), and I left that section of the book wanting to learn more about Alabama during reconstruction (and all these old Mobile families), and of course the Africatown descendants.

The second half of the book is a bit jarring. I am far to the left on the political spectrum when it comes to environmental issues, but even I felt this half of the book was a bit of a letdown in comparison to the first half. Don't get me wrong, environmental destruction, environmental racism is vitally important, but I can sum up Africatown's record against big oil as follows: Loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, pyrrhic victory, hopeful conclusion.

The last section of the book deals with the identification of the remains of the Clotilda and the Meyer descendants. If I were an editor, I would have cut the section about environmental racism and placed it in its own book as part of a greater story of environmental racism in Alabama. I would have preferred if we stuck with the Clotilda from beginning to end without the large deviation in the middle.

***stars!

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is about the last slave ship from Africa to arrive in the United States where its captives founded their own village after being granted freedom. The Clotilda arrived from West Africa to Alabama in 1860. It was illegal to be doing so, but slaves were still being brought secretly.
It is so disheartening to read about people treating other people like chattel, not only by America but other countries including Africa itself.
The ancestors of the owner and captain of Clotilda have never really confessed or offered restitution or sorrow for what they participated in.
The area of Africatown may eventually be granted some relief as a tourist attraction or historical site--but that is still in progress (most of the progress made since the discovery of the ship mired in the mud in a slough in a ship graveyard where a lot of discarded ships were sent. The Clotilda was set on fire and sunk after its arrival in 1860 to avoid detection.)
Africatown has suffered many many years with bad pollution in the air and waterways due to all of the industrial sites that surround it. Many cancers have occurred because of the pollution. Politicians have looked the other way and worse so that they can see to their own interests and those of those with the money and influence.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a comprehensive history about an important subject that everyone should know about but that, of course, due to the failed schooling in the US, was excluded entirely.
Nick Tabor brings us the last slave ship, the Clotide. Nick also walks us through the history of the town the descendants of that ship created, Africatown. However, it goes even deeper. From the landing in America to present day and stitching in all of the history between from Jim Crowe to Civil Rights to Reconstruction and more. Some sections/historical events are more in depth than others, but this was a calculated effort to highlight how this town has survived the unthinkable.
From basically the beginning it was targeted in environmentally racist ways. You can see the fights the descendants have always fought to try and keep their town going strong. The goes right up to the present where citizens are still rallying for their ancestors and for their home to get to recognition it deserves.
No review I make can do this book justice. Read it. And then keep reading about it and keep learning about all the stuff our education system denies us, because Black history is so important.

Thanks to NetGalley for my copy to read in exchange for an honest review.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Africatown was a lot of threads of US history rolled into one. I saw some other reviews saying that it felt like two distinct books, and while I agree with that in some ways, I greatly enjoyed the information that was being shared.

The first half details the last international slave transfer in the United States, via the ship Clotilda. The Clotilda brought slaves from Dahomey to Mobile, Alabama in 1859. From there, the author traces the journey of the enslaved from then until their freedom in 1865 and the development of a village called Africatown, where the formerly enslaved and their descendants settled.

From there, Tabor demonstrates how the community of Africatown was systematically neglected by local, state and national government, leading to the rise of heavy industry and negative environmental impacts. This in turn led to a rise in civil rights and environmental activism, including the fight to designate Africatown a national historic landmark.

Overall, I think this book brings many important themes into specific focus and helps put a lens on the ramifications of government neglect and how they radiate through generations.

[Michelle Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply compelling and poignant, Africatown is history that I never even heard of until I read the synopsis of this book and knew that I needed to learn about this.

The author so wanted to do right by this story that he moved outside of Mobile, as to have easier access for research and conversations, during his time on this book. The resulting story is a gripping one as well as being an important part of US history - as much for the horrifying wrongness of trafficking and slavery as the story of the town’s founders and their creating a community, where some of their ancestors live to this day.

Absolute recommendation.



Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the DRC.


* personal note - How have I lived almost 50 years, being a fairly educated person, and never heard of Africatown and it’s founders?

History is painful, but trying to whitewash it away like has been done for decades in US public schools is shameful. That we are still doing it today is morally reprehensible and criminal.