“Barracoon: The Story of the Last ‘Black Cargo’”, written by author Zora Neale Hurston, was published in 2018. Five years later, the book’s impact continues to grow tremendously for the Mobile community of Africatown. Barracoon has also reached students of the University of South Alabama as the selection for the 2023-2024 Common Read/Common World.

“Barracoon” centers on the life and hardships of a transatlantic slave trade survivor. The survivor’s first given African name is Oluale Kossula, but after arriving in America, he would be known as Cudjo Lewis. Lewis was taken from Africa in 1860 on the Clotilda, the last slave ship, before being brought to America to the city of Mobile, Alabama.

Lewis settled into what became Africatown, Alabama, a community of the descendants whose ancestors were on the Clotilda. Today, the descendants of Africatown aim to preserve their history. The Africatown Heritage House hosts “Clotilda: The Exhibition” within their walls, highlighting the stories of their ancestors who preceded them on the Clotilda and the founding of Africatown.

At the University of South Alabama, the weight of Lewis’s testimony in “Barracoon” embodies the knowledge and sensitivity of cross-cultural education the Common Read/Common World program strives for.

Dr. Ellen Harrington is Chair of the English Department and co-chair of the Common Read/Common World program. Harrington shared that she hoped “Barracoon” would be an ideal choice. “When we heard that there was a new book by Zora Neale Hurston that was hitherto unpublished, and that’s kind of exciting for literary scholars… It got more and more interesting because it is connected to this area, specifically, to the Africatown Community and to the Clotilda,” Harrington said.

Harrington also explained that the release and recognition of both Hurston’s work and the film “Descendant” may have influenced the committee’s decision to focus on this book.

“That was around the time that my colleague Dr. Kern Jackson was involved in making the film “Descendant”, which was also focused on the Africatown community, and then during the time of that filming, of course, the ship was located. So these things came together and tied this text to this moment and this community,” she said.

Following the selection of “Barracoon”, coordination took place to involve as many students as possible with local history. The effort included connecting “Barracoon” to the student screening of “Descendant”, a “Lunch and Learn” event at the Multicultural Leadership Center, providing educational resources to First Year Experience classes, and more.

Areshio Walker, a junior at South Alabama, learned about the book while taking Dr. Kern Jackson’s African American Studies class. The tragedy in Lewis’s life and how he overcame it, as explained by Dr. Jackson, interested Walker and convinced him to get a copy of the book.

After reading “Barracoon”, Walker shared how Lewis’s story resonated with him. “What was going through my head was, he went through all of this and still came out, of course, but, all the tragedy just made him a better person, so I was like, well maybe I can become a better person myself even through my own tragedy,” he said.

Walker has recommended “Barracoon” to close friends and encourages other students to read Lewis’s testimony. “I recommend it to a lot of people because I think as Black students, this is something that we need to be knowledgeable about and know what type of stock we’re made out of,” Walker said.

The Archaeology Museum has available copies of “Barracoon: The Story of the Last ‘Black Cargo’”, which students, faculty, and staff can purchase for a discounted price. Common Read/Common World has plans to continue coordinating “Barracoon” events for South Alabama in the spring semester. Of the events to come, there will be a guest feature speaker who will talk about the author, Zora Neale Hurston.