Ep.65 - AfricaTown: History and Hope

This is an episode of truth, triumph, tragedy, and new hope. Jason and Victoria talk with Chenel Chapman and Ms. Valena McCants of the Plateau Magazine Point Community Redevelopment Corporation. Chenel and Ms. McCants shine some light on a hushed period of Mobile history, the birth and death of a town, and why our community should rally behind the AfricaTown, USA revitalization project.

This amazing story begins in 1859 with the last known U.S. slave ship to bring captives from Africa to the United States, The Clotilda and goes all the way to the present day. This ships purpose, story, and recently discovered burning wreckage is a dark spot in the history books of Mobile, but something inspirational and beautiful was born from its ashes. That something is the real-life story of Cudjo Kazoola Lewis and his community that escaped the deck of the burning Clotilda and after the Civil War moved back to the very spot where they first stepped on U.S. soil, Plateau, Alabama. Times were dire and brutal but eventually through their hard work, and sheer determination of overcoming unimaginable odds, Lewis and company built a home of their own, AfricaTown.

Resources:

Chenel Chapman | [email protected]

National Geographic | Clotilda, Last American slave ship is discovered in Alabama

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