Africatown

Africatown, also known as AfricaTown USA and Africa Town, is a former community in Mobile County, Alabama, located three miles north of the city of Mobile. It was formed by people who were part of the last known illegal shipment of slaves to the United States. These people created their own tribal community and retained their African customs following the American Civil War.cite web|title="Mobile Community Holds On To Unique African Heritage"|work="Alabama Center for Traditional Culture"|author =Willet, Henry|url=http://www.arts.state.al.us/actc/articles/africa.htm|accessdate=2008-02-28]

History

Africatown had its beginnings with the slave ship "Clotilde". It sailed in 1860 from West Africa for its final destination of Mobile, more than half a century after the slave trade had been outlawed. Over 100 people were aboard, having been sold into bondage by the King of Dahomey. The village of the Tarkbar tribe, near the city of Tamale in Ghana, was raided by Dahomey warriors, and the survivors of the raid were taken to Whydah, now Benin, and put up for sale. The captured tribesmen were then sold for $100 each to William Foster, captain of the "Clotilde". The "Clotilde" was owned by Timothy Meaher, a shipbuilder in Mobile.cite web|title="AfricaTown, USA"|work="The Library of Congress: Local Legacies"|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/legacies/AL/200002671.html|accessdate=2008-02-28] cite web|title="Africatown, Alabama"|work="Wilson Jay's South"|url=http://jayssouth.com/alabama/africatown/|accessdate=2008-02-28]

On the night of July 9, 1860, the "Clotilde" entered Mobile Bay and approached the port of Mobile. Captain Foster loaded the slaves onto a riverboat and sent them ashore, he then set fire to the "Clotilde" to hide the evidence of the crime. The slaves were distributed among the parties who had invested in the venture. Federal authorities learned of this illegal activity and later prosecuted Meaher and others. The charges would be dismissed prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.

About a third of the slaves had been sent to Magazine Point, a property owned by Meaher north of Mobile. This was the site that would become Africatown. Among these former Africans was a man named Cudjoe Kazoola Lewis. The group built shelters of whatever they found growing in the Alabama forests. After the Civil War and emancipation, they were joined by a number of their fellow tribesmen. A man named Charlie Poteet became their chief and they had a medicine man named Jabez. In time they formed a self-governing society. They spoke their native language and carried on their tribal traditions into the 20th century.

Eventually the original group of settlers dwindled and the remaining members would gather on Sundays after church to discuss the group's welfare. Of the remaining people, Cudjoe Lewis was the best known and gave interviews to the many writers who focused their work on Africatown during the early 1900s. Up until World War II, Africatown remained a distinct community. Eventually Prichard, a suburb of Mobile, grew to encompass the site. The Africatown Community Mobilization Project was formed in 1997 with a mission of establishing an Africatown Historical District and encouraging the historical restoration and development of the site.

ee also

*History of Mobile, Alabama
*National African American Archives and Museum
*Atlantic slave trade

References