Wow, I am not even sure where to start. Africatown is a well written, disturbing book that reminds us that we still have a long way to go. The story of the shipmates and how they were captured in Africa and brought to Alabama despite the illegality of importing slaves is a sad chapter in our history. I was reminded again and again that slavery, discrimination and bigotry did not end with the Civil War.
While the story of their journey on the Clotilda was heartbreaking, it was the resilience of the shipmates that is the real story. Despite the continued marginalization of the residence of Plateau and Magazine, Alabama the story has remained to be told. I think what struck me the most was the reluctance of the Reagan Administration (Particularly Secretary of the Interior James Watt) to recognize the importance of Africatown, and how this was not a unique story.
in 1972, the National Park Service gave a private group, the Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation, the funding to carry out a sweeping survey of these landmarks. An early ABC report made a stinging critique of the park system’s criteria for designating historic sites. “It is organized to cover American history from a white American’s perspective,” the group wrote in 1973. “There appears to be a marked reluctance on the part of NPS to openly deal with some of the less appealing aspects of American history, especially slavery … Although the past cannot be changed, it can be honestly faced, and the future can be made differently.”
It is not an easy, or light read, but I highly recommend Nick Taylor’s book Africatown, and as a result I am sure I will do more reading on the last slave ship that came to the USA.
My only complaint about this edition of the book (uncorrected digital copy) is the failure to link footnotes and the occasional need for editing. I received this book for free for an unbiased review.
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