National Geographic History - 11.2019 - 12.2019

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GRANGER/ALBUM

for more than a century, historians have

been researching the stories of the people

who came to Alabama aboard the Clotilda.

One of the richest accounts is that of Cudjo

Kossula Lewis, who was interviewed in the

late 1920s by anthropologist and author

Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston’s research

would serve as a foundation for future efforts

to tell the full story of the Clotilda. Providing

moving personal insight into the horrifying

experiences of war, the Middle Passage, and

slavery, her work recorded Lewis’s stories

in his own words—allowing his voice to tell

firsthand accounts of terror and grief. Born

around 1841 in what is now Oyo, Lewis

was given many names, including Kossula.

In April 1860 the warriors of Dahomey

attacked Kossula’s farmstead, killing their

leaders and taking the townspeople prisoner,

including young Kossula. Years later he told

Hurston, “When I think ’bout dat time I try

not to cry no mo’. My eyes dey stop cryin’

but de tears runnee down inside me all de

time. I no see none my family.”

AFRICATOWN

ANCESTOR

ZORA NEALE HURSTON

interviewed Cudjo Lewis in 1927

and 1931, and she published two

articles. Most of the material

she collected from Lewis is in the

Moorland-Spingarn Research

Center at Howard University.

This rich data trove contributed

to Hurston’s posthumous 2018

book Barracoon.

DOY LEALE M

CCALL RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT

LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA