The Last Slave Ship: America's Most Brutal Crime Hidden for 160 Years
In 1860, wealthy businessman Timothy Meaher made a bet that he could smuggle enslaved Africans into Alabama, 52 years after it became a crime punishable by death. The Clotilda arrived with 110 captives, was burned to hide the evidence, and remained hidden until 2019 when journalist Ben Raines discovered the wreck. This is the story of America's last slave ship and Africatown, the remarkable community its survivors built.
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SOURCES:
Alabama Historical Commission - Official Clotilda Investigation Reports
National Geographic - "Clotilda, America's Last Slave Ship" by Joel K. Bourne Jr.
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture - Clotilda Discovery Statement
Raines, Ben. "The Last Slave Ship: The True Story of How Clotilda Was Found, Her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning." Simon & Schuster, 2022.
Diouf, Sylviane A. "Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America." Oxford University Press, 2007.
Durkin, Hannah. "The Survivors of the Clotilda: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the American Slave Trade." Amistad, 2024.
Hurston, Zora Neale. "Barracoon: The Story of the Last 'Black Cargo.'" Amistad, 2018.
Encyclopedia of Alabama - Clotilda and Africatown entries
NPR - Interview with Ben Raines on Clotilda discovery, May 2019
Wikipedia - Clotilda (slave ship), Timothy Meaher, Cudjoe Lewis, Africatown
Britannica - Clotilda entry
Equal Justice Initiative - Historical timeline of Clotilda arrival
UNESCO - "From the Holds of the Clotilda to Africatown"