Along this arm of the
Mobile River in Ala-
bama are the remains
of the Clotilda, the last
known American ship
to bring captive Afri-
cans to the U.S., in 1860.
The captain tried to
burn the ship because
importing enslaved
people had been illegal
in the U.S. since 1808.
Discovered in 2019,
two-thirds of the
structure survived,
making it the most
intact slave ship found
to date. Some of the
Africans trafficked on
the Clotilda were buried
at Old Plateau Cemetery
(right) in Africatown,
a community founded
by the ship’s survivors
after slavery had
been abolished.