They came to the US against their will. Their descendants returned to Africa for them.
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Ken Makin Cultural commentator
鈥淎merica鈥檚 last slave ship is more intact than anyone thought,鈥� reads a from National Geographic about the Clotilda. As a new Nat Geo documentary suggests, so are the descendants from that vessel.
In 1860, the schooner Clotilda became the last known ship to carry enslaved people from the west coast of Africa to the United States. In 2019, the ship was found at the bottom of the Mobile River in Alabama. The discovery revived and validated the stories and names of the 110 enslaved people on the ship that had been passed down through generations. The legacy of resistance is present in Africatown, the community they founded after emancipation. It was the vision of Clotilda鈥檚 descendants to retain their African history and identity. It is the only community founded by Africans still active in the U.S.
鈥淐lotilda: The Return Home鈥� began streaming on Hulu and Disney+ June 18. The documentary follows the descendants of Cudjoe Lewis and Peter 鈥淕umpa鈥� Lee, two Clotilda survivors,聽as they fulfill their ancestors鈥� vision of returning to Africa, which takes them to Benin and the site of the former Dahomey kingdom.聽Delisha Marshall, a descendant of Gumpa and Josephine Lee, is one of the four individuals featured on the film鈥檚 promotional poster.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onThe last enslaved people to arrive in the United States from Africa tried to get home after they were emancipated. More than 150 years later, their descendants make the journey for them 鈥� and consider the legacy they left.
She spoke with the Monitor recently about the documentary, the legacy of the Clotilda, and her ambivalence regarding the return home. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Talk about how you鈥檝e become an ambassador for Clotlida and Africatown.
I really have to give all credit to God on that, honestly. It was all by accident. Participation in the National Geographic documentaries was a product of being in the right place at the right time. I saw an advertisement pop up on Facebook regarding a screening of a documentary about Clotilda at the Nat Geo Museum in D.C., sent a text to my cousins about going, and I happened to be the only one that showed up. After the event, I connected with the lovely Joycelyn Davis [another Clotilda descendant] who鈥檚 been doing this work for years.聽 I introduced myself to her and told her I was a descendant of Peter [Gumpa] and Josephine Lee, and a producer overheard me. She was like, 鈥淲e鈥檝e been looking for someone in your family!鈥� She took my information, contacted me a few weeks later, and the rest is history.聽
As far as Africatown, I only saw bits and pieces. It still blows my mind to be talking about the community because to me, it was just my parents dropping me off at my grandparents鈥� house because they had to go to work. When I was growing up, the community was called Plateau. I just thought it was an underserved community. As a child, I wasn鈥檛 allowed to leave my grandparents鈥� yard, so I didn鈥檛 get the same experience that my older cousins who lived there did.聽I had no idea of the history of the community and how it got to its current state until I was grown. But now that I know, I plan to be loud about it. Africatown in its heyday was home to about 12,000 people.聽Now the population is 2,000, if that. There were thriving Black businesses, but now it鈥檚 a food desert. The community is surrounded by various industrial plants ... [and] many residents [have] become sick with illnesses like cancer.聽There is a major highway running through the center of the community, which reduced some of our family鈥檚 land. It鈥檚 really sad to see how it started, what it was, and what it is now.
Can you give a summation of the story of Clotilda and Africatown?
To summarize a very long story, what happened around 1859 or 1860, there was a wealthy man by the name of Timothy Meaher. I believe he and his brothers were originally from Massachusetts, but they used to make boats, and ended up moving to Mobile, Alabama. One night, they were drinking, and Meaher聽makes a bet that he can go to Africa and bring back a boat full of [people]. At this time, slavery wasn鈥檛 illegal, but it was illegal to import slaves from other places. Meaher聽outfitted the ship to make it look like they鈥檙e just importing cargo 鈥� tobacco, things of that nature. He goes to the coast of West Africa, had negotiations with the King of Dahomey, and ends up purchasing 125 people. But because the importation of slaves is outlawed, and a British warship was out in the water, they ended up leaving 15 people on the shore. So that鈥檚 how the 110 got on the boat. I believe it was a six-week voyage, and they made their way back to Alabama. From there, they divided up the people amongst the brothers. ... After emancipation, there were about 32 of them who stayed in the area, banded together, and decided they wanted to try and get back to Africa. They pooled their money in order to do just that, but once they realized that they wouldn鈥檛 be able to make it back to Africa, they decided, 鈥淥kay, we鈥檙e gonna turn this into Africa. We鈥檙e gonna make Alabama into Africa.鈥� And they founded this community and called it Africatown.聽
People are loose with the term 鈥渕y ancestors鈥� wildest dreams,鈥� but you鈥檙e living that out through your advocacy and research. What does that mean for you, both physically and spiritually?
It鈥檚 been a blessing, because what I鈥檓 doing is just a continuation of what the Clotilda survivors were doing. They shared their stories with any and everyone who would listen, which is how Cudjo Lewis was able to speak with [author and anthropologist] Zora Neale Hurston. She鈥檇 heard their stories and decided to travel to Africatown to document it. And thank God for that, because Cudjo was the one guiding us on this journey back to Benin. He was able to recall where his village was located and the various stops he made along the way before they were put onto the ship. We were able to go back to these places and have conversations due to the map he drew. ... I was able to do burial rites for Gumpa with descendants of King Glele. He [Gumpa] left Dahomey disgraced, since he was given away as a gift by his relatives. But 162 years later, someone from the same family was willing to give him a proper burial. It speaks to redemption, and I hope his soul is at peace now, if it wasn鈥檛 before. Sometimes our ancestors start things and it takes time for the things they want to come to pass. In Gumpa鈥檚 case, it took six generations for someone in his family to make it back home, but someone finally did.聽
The more I research I do and find out, the more whole I feel. It鈥檚 like putting together pieces of a puzzle. I recently took a trip to California to visit my cousin ... because she is on a whole other level of family research that I aspire to. She was able to tie the family tree back to an African ancestor who came from France in 1795! ... It鈥檚 important to note that anyone can do this work. You start with your closest living relatives and just work your way back as far as you can.
Has this experience been wholly positive, or has there been some ambivalence?
Oh, there is definitely ambivalence. When you start digging into the past, you will find out some things that paint relatives in a less flattering light. Take Gumpa, for instance. As cool as it is to say he was a prince, the family he comes from were major players in the Transatlantic slave trade.聽We still don鈥檛 know exactly what he did to fall out of favor with King Glele that would cause him to be given away to Captain Foster as a gift.聽You find out some family secrets that people either weren鈥檛 aware of or didn鈥檛 want others to know, so you have to be prepared for that. It makes them human, and you learn to have compassion. I may not like some of the things I find out, but I certainly can鈥檛 judge them for it. I wasn鈥檛 there and I don鈥檛 have all the facts surrounding their situations. ... So as much as you are their wildest dreams, you inherit some of their traumas and nightmares too.
Some people see a conflict between African and American religions. What has that experience been like for you?
I鈥檓 still trying to navigate through it.聽I grew up in the Baptist church and I still enjoy going to church, reading the Bible, and listening to gospel music, but I鈥檓 naturally curious. I鈥檓 intrigued by African spirituality and learning about the beliefs that my ancestors practiced. I love Jesus, but I love the Orisa too. I like learning about Vodun, which is the religious practice of Dahomey where Gumpa is from. Honestly, it鈥檚 confusing and very expensive! But I love the path that I鈥檓 on and learning to be patient with it. I was afraid to explore traditional African religions because I thought my family would disown me or certain people would look at me differently, but it鈥檚 been the exact opposite. They may not understand it but they don鈥檛 love me any less. Once I started learning about Ifa, that鈥檚 when certain opportunities surrounding Africatown and the Clotilda started happening, which I don鈥檛 think is a coincidence. To me, one is religion, the other is spirituality, and I think they can coexist. I don鈥檛 feel the need to choose one or the other. I can do both.
What do you want people to gain from this documentary and from the story of the Clotilda?聽
To see the survivors of the Clotilda and all enslaved Africans around the diaspora as human. When we study history, we have a tendency to look at people through a certain lens, but they are just that: people. They were griots [storytellers and musicians], chiefs, priests, artists, dancers, fathers, daughters, wives, husbands. One of my ancestors just happened to be a prince. They were fully realized human beings just living their lives before they fell victim to the international slave trade. Everyone wants to have a good life 鈥� prosperous communities, strong family ties, happy and healthy children, and to exist authentically. We all have that in common. ...聽And that was the point of founding Africatown. The survivors weren鈥檛 accepted by the African American community in Mobile, so they created their own, where they could educate their children, practice their beliefs, and have the freedom to live their lives as they saw fit.
