Though Mobile is a great place to visit any time of the year, this coastal Alabama city has rung in the new year with an impressive dedication to cultural heritage, making it a must-visit for Black History Month. Conde Nast Traveler took note and included Mobile on its “Best Places to Go in 2024” list, in part for the city’s strides in cultural development and dedication to celebrating its African American history.
Last July, the inspirational story of the 110 survivors of the last slave ship to enter the United States, the Clotilda, and the town they created just outside of Mobile in the late 1800s was shared with the world through the opening of “Clotilda: The Exhibition”at Africatown Heritage House. This was a pivotal moment in the city’s commitment to embracing its African American heritage. As of this month, Africatown Heritage House is offering group admission to schools, churches and other groups, helping to increase the number of people who can visit in person and learn more about this fascinating story.
Though the opening of Africatown Heritage House was certainly a big part of Mobile’s story of cultural development, there’s plenty more to experience in the city during Black History Month and beyond. Here’s a sampling of both what is new and what’s to come later in the year, for those planning ahead:
This past October, the new Historic Avenue Cultural Center debuted its first exhibit, entitled “Remembering the Avenue,” which tells the story of Mobile through the eyes of Black residents, both past and present. The exhibit will run through the end of this year. The center itself is of tremendous historical significance, as it was the city’s Black library before it became the National African American Archives & Museum and eventually the cultural center.
Mobile is also developing a Civil Rights and Cultural Heritage District, which will be located along the Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue Corridor. This area was an economic hub for the Black community during the era of segregation. Churches, schools, and other sites throughout the district will become permanent landmarks and the city is in the process of building a memorial park that will be a gateway to the district.
The Isom Clemon Civil Rights Memorial Park is set to open in early spring. The park is located on a site where leaders of the city’s Civil Rights Movement met, and a series of statues by local artists will commemorate their efforts and detail the movement in the city.
To round out a journey and to get full insight into Mobile’s Black history and the countless contributions of Black Mobilians throughout the years, take a tour of stops along the Dora Franklin Finley African American Heritage Trail(DFFAAHT). There are trail markers all over the city for a self-guided tour, but a two-hour guided bus tour offers a very personal and comprehensive way to experience the sites.
No trip to Mobile is complete without sampling the city’s unique food scene, especially since 2024 has been officially declared the Year of Food by the State of Alabama. Ginger & Spice and Kanary Bar are just a few of the Black-owned restaurants to try during a visit.
From historical sites to special exhibits to exciting new developments on the horizon, this city offers a unique opportunity to learn about and celebrate the contributions of Black Americans. To experience a destination that truly embraces its African American history and start planning a visit to Mobile, head to https://www.mobile.org/.
Saturday, July 8 marked the grand opening of “Clotilda: The Exhibition” at Africatown Heritage House in Mobile Alabama, located in the heart of one of the most significant communities in African American history.
The opening took place on the 163rd anniversary of what’s locally known as “The Landing,” the date when 110 West Africans arrived in the United States – in shackles and against their will – on the last documented slave ship to arrive in this country.
The exhibit tells a big story in a small space that’s not so much larger than the ship that transported the 110 back in 1860 – 52 years after international slave trade became illegal – then was burned and sunk to cover up the crime that had been committed.
The group survived the Middle Passage and five years of enslavement, then created the only community of its kind, one that was entirely run by African-born Americans. There they maintained their African identities; continued to speak their languages; established their own set of governance; and built churches, schools and businesses based on what they knew from their homeland.It’s the ultimate story of resilience, and it’s one that has long needed to be shared.
Discovery
A tale that was once only whispered among descendants of the 110 is now – finally – being heard by people around the world.In 2019, the remains of the shipwrecked Clotilda were identified at the bottom of the Mobile River, providing irrefutable proof of the 160-year-old crime.
The sunken ship also offers a tangible link to the 110, making their descendants a rarity among the millions of African Americans who long for specific details about when and how their ancestors were forcibly brought into the United States.Some pieces of the sunken ship scientifically verified to be the Clotilda are among the artifacts on display in the exhibition, which puts its emphasis not on the ship, but on the 110 men, women and children it brought to the United States.
The exhibit also features a variety of other artifacts, interpretive text panels, and documents.That paperwork includes land deeds and marriage certificates that prove that the shipmates – most of whom didn’t know each other before their capture, many of whom didn’t even speak the same languages or practice the same religions – became a community and, by all reckoning, each other’s family in the absence of true kin. Ripped apart from everyone they knew in West Africa, the survivors eventually established their own family units in the United States.
Survivors Share Their Stories
Because they arrived five decades after international slave trade was abolished and they were quite young at the time – the oldest Clotilda survivors were in their early 20s in 1860 – some of them lived well into the 20th century and documented their first-hand accounts. This means that their children and grandchildren knew the stories of what happened to the 110 – their capture, their enslavement, the Middle Passage, and the burning and sinking of the Clotilda – and passed them down from generation to generation.
Special water tanks hold artifacts recovered from the shipwreck verified to be the Clotilda, the last known slave ship to arrive in America.Credit: History Museum of MobileThe modern-day descendants – ranging from third generation into seventh generation and perhaps beyond – were the first people to visit the exhibition.
Out of respect to the descendants, the exhibition opened in a special preview for them last Thursday, July 6. Throughout the day, hands were held, tears were shed and hugs were shared, all representing a mix of emotions that ran the gamut from grief to joy.
“I hope the exhibit draws attention to the story of our ancestors’ beginnings and to the challenges the Africatown community faces today,” said Jeremy Ellis, president of Clotilda Descendants Association.On Saturday, which marked the public opening of both Africatown Heritage House and Clotilda:The Exhibition, the community of Africatown came together to invite the world to share in a story that has been 163 years in the making.
The first hundreds of visitors who passed through the doors included descendants from around the country, members of the community, people who have been following this fascinating story for years, the dive team and marine archaeologists who are studying and conserving the boat, the elected officials and donors who set aside the funding to create the site and exhibition, and the museum curators who have worked hard to trace the stories of the survivors.
“I have spent years reading and writing stories of the survivors,” said Meg McCrummen Fowler, the director of the History Museum of Mobile, which curated, constructed and funded the exhibition and operates Africatown Heritage House. “You can’t do that and not be changed. My hope is that visitors to Africatown Heritage House will leave not just having learned historical facts, but rather having had an experience with history that brings the humanity of the story into sharp relief … and maybe even learning something about themselves in the process.”
If You Go:
Africatown Heritage House is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Due to space limitations, tickets for Clotilda: The Exhibition – which will remain at the site for at least three years – are timed and should be reserved online in advance of a visit.
Tickets, which can be purchased up to 60 days in advance, are $15 for adults; $9 for guests ages 65 or more, students age 18 or more with a valid school ID, and active or retired military with ID; $8 for children ages 6 to 18; free for children 5 and under; and free for Mobile County residents with proof of residency (though donations are encouraged).
“I hope that visitors leave Africatown Heritage House knowing that there is still greatness in the community and amongst the people, and feel deeply connected to something larger than themselves,” said Altevese Lumbers-Rosario, vice president of Clotilda Descendants Association. “That is what my ancestor, Kossula, and the remaining founders of Africatown strived to embody, teach their descendants, and anchor their lives to.”
Learn More About Africatown
Africatown Community Organizations Africatown is a small residential area just north of downtown Mobile. Many of its residents can trace their lineage to the 110 survivors of the Clotilda, who founded the community after the Civil War. For more than 150 years, members of the community took steps to ensure that the incredible story of those who came before them was always honored and never forgotten. They tapped into their personal resources and gave of their time, ever committed to preserving their history while ensuring a bright future for the generations to come. Their decades of dedication has resulted in the establishment of a full array of community organizations that work diligently – independently and also in support of each other – to keep the dreams of the original residents of Africatown alive. Listed in alphabetical order, these organizations include:
Mobile Environmental Justice Action Coalition: https://www.mejacoalition.org/ Credit: Mobile County Commission Historic Africatown Churches (in order of founding)
1869: Union Missionary Baptist Church, 506 Bay Bridge Road, Mobile, AL 36610
1883: Yorktown Baptist Church, 851 East Street, Mobile, AL 36610
1893: First Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, 664 Shelby Street, Mobile, AL 36610 For more information, contact media@clotilda.com. Suggested Reading: Books of Interest (all available on Amazon)
Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” (Zora Neale Hurston, 2018)
Clotilda: The History and Archaeology of the Last Slave Ship (James P. Delgado, Deborah E. Marx, Kyle Lent, Joseph Grinnan and Alexander DeCaro, 2023)
Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America (Sylviane A. Diouf, 2007)
Historic Sketches of the South (Emma Langdon Roche, 1914)
The Last Slave Ship: The True Story of How Clotilda Was Found, Her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning (Ben Raines, 2022)
The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Making of AfricaTown, USA: Spirit of Our Ancestors (Natalie S. Robertson, 2008) Suggested Reading: Articles of Interest
“Clotilda: Journey of the Last American Slave Ship” National Geographic, November 19, 2019 (Please note: This is behind a paywall, so you’ll need to log in with an email address or subscribe to access the story.)
“Clotilda, America’s Last Slave Ship: Stole Them From Home, It Couldn’t Steal Their Identities” National Geographic, January 16, 2020 (Please note: This is behind a paywall, so you’ll need to log in with an email address or subscribe to access the story.)
“Africatown – A Tradition and Struggle Like No Other” by Joe Womack, posted July 7, 2014 on the “Bridge the Gulf” blog Suggested Films
“Clotilda: Last American Slave Ship,” currently showing on Disney+
“Descendant,” currently showing on Netflix Official Tours
Dora Franklin Finley African American Heritage Trail: https://www.dffaaht.org/ (established in 2005)
Visit Mobile, the official tourism organization for the city, worked with Michelle Browder of More Than Tours in Montgomery, to mentor a group of aspiring tour guides, some of whom are descendants. Browder helped five businesses establish licenses and create marketing tools, in addition to coaching them on how to share fascinating but difficult stories in both educational and engaging ways. The first class of “Africatown Experience Givers” graduated on January 25, 2023. Please see related document in the Clotilda.com press room for more details.
