Africatown

America's Last Slave Ship and the Community It Created

By: Nick Tabor

Narrated by: Chris Butler

An epic story, 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 US 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.

©2023 Nick Tabor (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing

So interesting!!!

Loved it and recommend it highly!!! Such a great story and written very well. Very easy read.

Fascinating Story

True to his style, Tabor lets facts tell the absolutely riveting story of Africatown. Tabor's storytelling from the Africatown founders' time in Africa through to present-day Mobile, continually reinforces the long term impact of individual choices made maliciously or mundanely. Beautifully narrated by Butler, this is 8 hours well spent.

Incredible content, great narration

I thoroughly enjoyed this listen. Meticulously detailed, entertaining and informative. Highly recommend this audio book.

An abridged version, please

An incredible premise, dragged out for far too long.

I respect the research that's gone into making this book, but just because you found the information doesn't necessarily mean you need to include it.