The Last Slave Ship: Clotilda by Anderson Cooper of 60 Minutes

November 29, 2020

Descendants of enslaved Africans on last known slave ship imagine the terrible journey

“How many people do you, do we know now that could’ve survived something like that, without losing their mind?” See the full Anderson Cooper report

The Clotilda was burned and sunk in an Alabama River after bringing 110 imprisoned people across the Atlantic in 1860. Two years ago, its remains were found. Anderson Cooper reports on the discovery of the wreck and the nearby community with descendants of the enslaved aboard the ship.

Two years ago, a sunken ship was found in the bottom of an Alabama river. It turned out to be the long lost wreck of the Clotilda, the last slave ship known to have brought captured Africans to America in 1860. At least 12 million Africans were shipped to the Americas, in the more than 350 years of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, but as you’ll hear tonight, the journey of the 110 captive men, women, and children brought to Alabama on the Clotilda, is one of the best-documented slave voyages in history. The names of those enslaved Africans, and their story, has been passed down through the generations by their descendants, some of whom still live just a few miles from where the ship was found in a community called Africatown.

For 160 years this muddy stretch of the Mobile River has covered up a crime. In July 1860 the Clotilda was towed here, under cover of darkness. Imprisoned in its cramped cargo hold, 110 enslaved Africans.

Joyceyln Davis: I just imagined myself being on that ship just listening to the waves and the water, and just not knowing where you were going.

Joyceyln Davis, Lorna Gail Woods, and Thomas Griffin are direct descendants of this African man, Oluale. Enslaved in Alabama, his owner changed his name to Charlie Lewis. Pollee Allen, whose African name was Kupollee, was the ancestor of Jeremy Ellis and Darron Patterson.

Darron Patterson: No clothes. Eating where they defecated. Only allowed outta the cargo hold for one day a week for two months. How many people do you, do we know now that could’ve survived something like that, without losing their mind? To read more to go the link below:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/clotilda-slave-ship-alabama-60-minutes-2020-11-29/

Wreck of last known slave ship – found in Alabama

Almost 160 years after the last known slave ship arrived in Alabama from Africa, the wreck has finally been found. They were kidnapped, then trafficked illegally to the United States, decades after the importation of enslaved Africans was banned. Now almost 160 years after the last known slave ship arrived in Alabama from Africa, the wreck has finally been found. Historians say it will shed new light on a lost chapter of American history.