African Town

Chronicling the story of the last Africans brought illegally to America in 1860,African Town is a powerful and stunning novel-in-verse. Cover may vary. In 1860long after the United States outlawed the importation of enslaved laborers110 menwomen and children from Benin and Nigeria were captured and brought to MobileAlabama aboard a ship called Clotilda. Their journey includes the savage Middle Passage and being hidden in the swamplands along the Alabama River before being secretly parceled out to various plantationswhere they made desperate attempts to maintain both their culture and also fit into the place of captivity to which they’d been delivered. At the end of the Civil Warthe survivors created a community for themselves they called African Townwhich still exists to this day. Told in 14 distinct voicesincluding that of the ship that brought them to the American shores and the founder of African Townthis powerfully affecting historical novel-in-verse recreates a pivotal moment in US and world historythe impacts of which we still feel today.