Chronicling the story of the last Africans brought illegally to America in 1860, African Town is a powerful and stunning novel-in-verse.In 1860, long after the United States outlawed the importation of enslaved laborers, 110 men, women and children from Benin and Nigeria were captured and brought to Mobile, Alabama aboard a ship called
Clotilda. Their journey includes the savage Middle Passage and being hidden in the swamplands along the Alabama River before being secretly parceled out to various plantations, where they made desperate attempts to maintain both their culture and also fit into the place of captivity to which they'd been delivered. At the end of the Civil War, the survivors created a community for themselves they called African Town, which still exists to this day. Told in 14 distinct voices, including that of the ship that brought them to the American shores and the founder of African Town, this powerfully affecting historical novel-in-verse recreates a pivotal moment in US and world history, the impacts of which we still feel today.
A SCOTT O’DELL AWARD WINNER • Inspired by the true story of the survivors of the last American slave ship in 1860, this powerful portrait of a pivotal moment in history gives a new, complicated meaning to the American dream.
“A haunting, beautifully told history.”—NPR
“A book that should be both taught and treasured.”—Bookpage, starred review
The year is 1859, and though the trans-Atlantic slave trade has been banned for more than fifty years, the enslavement of Black people still fuels the American economy. But Southern plantation owners now face the threat of a civil war and the end of slavery. Timothy Meaher can’t conceive of such a disruption to his way of life. He resents government interference in his right to make a living. Against this backdrop, he makes a bet with other businessmen that he can smuggle enslaved Africans into the United States without being caught. Soon, Meaher has commissioned what is now known as the last slave ship, the Clotilda.
Wrenched from their homes in what is now Benin, the 110 African captives on board the Clotilda face an uncertain fate. Among these souls are five vibrant young men and women whose dreams are just starting to take flight: Abilè, Gumpa, Kêhounco, Kossola, and Kupollee. They survive the Middle Passage and arrive in Alabama as enslaved people, still clinging to the hope of one day returning home. Through incomprehensible brutality, they hold fast to their dreams—they marry, raise children, and form a legacy that still endures in African Town.
