Research Catalog

Barracoon : the story of the last "black cargo"

Title
Barracoon : the story of the last "black cargo" / Zora Neale Hurston ; edited by Deborah G. Plant ; foreword by Alice Walker.
Author
Hurston, Zora Neale
Publication
  • New York, NY : Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2018]
  • ©2018

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library Sc D 18-464Schomburg Center - Research & Reference

Details

Additional Authors
  • Plant, Deborah G., 1956-
  • Walker, Alice, 1944-
  • Cairns Collection of American Women Writers. WU
Description
xxviii, 171 pages : illustrations; 22 cm
Summary
"In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston went to Plateau, Alabama, just outside Mobile, to interview eighty-six-year-old Cudjo Lewis. Of the millions of men, women, and children transported from Africa to America as slaves, Cudjo was then the only person alive to tell the story of this integral part of the nation's history. Hurston was there to record Cudjo's firsthand account of the raid that led to his capture and bondage fifty years after the Atlantic slave trade was outlawed in the United States. In 1931, Hurston returned to Plateau, the African-centric community three miles from Mobile founded by Cudjo and other former slaves from his ship. Spending more than three months there, she talked in depth with Cudjo about the details of his life. During those weeks, the young writer and the elderly formerly enslaved man ate peaches and watermelon that grew in the backyard and talked about Cudjo's past--memories from his childhood in Africa, the horrors of being captured and held in a barracoon for selection by American slavers, the harrowing experience of the Middle Passage packed with more than 100 other souls aboard the Clotilda, and the years he spent in slavery until the end of the Civil War. Based on those interviews, featuring Cudjo's unique vernacular, and written from Hurston's perspective with the compassion and singular style that have made her one of the preeminent American authors of the twentieth-century, Barracoon masterfully illustrates the tragedy of slavery and of one life forever defined by it. Offering insight into the pernicious legacy that continues to haunt us all, black and white, this poignant and powerful work is an invaluable contribution to our shared history and culture."--Publisher's website.
Alternative Title
Story of the last "black cargo"
Subjects
Genre/Form
  • Biographies.
  • Biography.
  • History.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 169-171).
Contents
Foreword: Those who love us never leave us alone with our grief : reading Barracoon : the story of the last "black cargo" / by Alice Walker -- Introduction -- Editor's note -- Barracoon. Preface -- Introduction -- The king arrives -- Barracoon -- Slavery -- Freedom -- Marriage -- Kossula learns about law -- Alone -- Appendix. Takkoi or Attako--children's game -- Stories Kossula told me -- The monkey and the camel -- Story of de Jonah -- Now disa Abraham fadda de faitful -- The lion woman -- Afterword and additional materials / edited by Deborah G. Plant.
Call Number
Sc D 18-464
ISBN
  • 0062748203
  • 9780062748201
  • 9780062864369
  • 006286436X
  • 9780008297664
  • 0008297665
  • 9780008297671 (ePub ebook) (canceled/invalid)
OCLC
1021879113
Author
Hurston, Zora Neale, author.
Title
Barracoon : the story of the last "black cargo" / Zora Neale Hurston ; edited by Deborah G. Plant ; foreword by Alice Walker.
Publisher
New York, NY : Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2018]
Copyright Date
©2018
Edition
First edition.
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Local Note
Schomburg copy with dust jacket.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 169-171).
Chronological Term
1800-1899
Local Subject
Black author.
Added Author
Plant, Deborah G., 1956- editor.
Walker, Alice, 1944- writer of foreword.
Cairns Collection of American Women Writers. WU
Research Call Number
Sc D 18-464
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