Nearly 160 years after the Clotilda sank in the Mobile River, the remains of the last known slave ship to arrive in the United States have been found — and the Africatown community is celebrating a discovery that many residents have waited their whole lives to hear.
The Clotilda departed from Mobile in 1860, more than 50 years after the United States banned the importation of enslaved people. The ship illegally carried 110 Africans back to Mobile, where the survivors eventually established the community now known as Africatown. For generations, the ship’s existence was passed down as oral history among descendants. Now it has been physically located in the river.
Descendants say the discovery brings their ancestors’ story to life
“It’s no longer a puff of smoke, it’s real,” said Darron Patterson, a descendant of one of the people brought to Mobile aboard the Clotilda.
Joycelyn Davis, a descendant of Clotilda passenger Charlie Lewis, said learning the ship had been found gave her chills. “Thinking about my ancestors on that boat, listening to the waves, listening to the waters, the screams,” she said.
Patterson reflected on what the enslaved Africans endured during the crossing and after their arrival. “Two months on a boat and got here. They persevered,” he said. “And then after that, they still couldn’t go home, and they made their home right here. That’s unreal. That’s character that we need today.”
Senator pushes to add Clotilda to state curriculum
The impact of the discovery is expected to reach well beyond Africatown. State Senator Vivian Davis Figures said she wants to explore adding the Clotilda’s story to Alabama’s public education curriculum — not just during Black History Month in February, but year-round.
“This is all of our story, and I think it’s something that we really can use to start healing,” Figures said. She added that the Clotilda belongs to the people of Alabama and that Africatown residents will be involved in decisions about what happens next with the ship.
Figures said she envisions parts of the ship being recovered and a replica built so that visitors can walk through it and learn the full story of Africatown and the Clotilda.
The National Geographic Society is conducting DNA testing on wood extracted from the ship and from nearby soil, hoping to identify the people who were aboard the vessel more than 150 years ago.