AFRICAN TOWN by Irene Latham & Charles Waters

 

AFRICAN TOWN is a historical novel in verse that recounts the story of the last American slave ship. It is 1859 and slave trade from Africa has been banned for quite some time. An Alabama man named Timothy Meaher concocts an elaborate scheme to retrofit a ship to sail to Africa and secretly bring back a group of potential slaves.

The Clotilda was said to be transporting a load of lumber, but instead her hull was filled with enough food and water to sustain a long voyage and a return trip with human cargo. Upon arriving in Africa, slaves were purchased from slave catchers and loaded below decks. The conditions were extremely horrible. The naked Africans were divided into male and female groups. For forty days they existed in these terrible conditions while the ship crossed the Atlantic.

Things didn't improve as the ship was hidden until the slaves could be transported to yet another ship and later hidden along the river. The hot, humid weather brought mosquitos and illness as they were forced to remain hidden until they could be taken to a safe location to be auctioned off to the highest bidders.

What followed were years of labor and abuse. All the while they hoped to someday return to Africa. The Civil War was fought, and freedom was finally achieved, but being "free" came with its own cost.

Eventually, some of the original group was able to work and purchase land to create what they called African Town.

Authors Irene Latham & Charles Waters collaborated to create this impressive novel to recount the life and times of some brave and courageous humans.