New York Times Bestseller • TIME Magazine’s Best Nonfiction Book of 2018 • New York Public Library’s Best Book of 2018 • NPR’s Book Concierge Best Book of 2018 • Economist Book of the Year • SELF.com’s Best Books of 2018 • Audible’s Best of the Year • BookRiot’s Best Audio Books of 2018 • The Atlantic’s Books Briefing: History, Reconsidered • Atlanta Journal Constitution, Best Southern Books … Reconsidered • Atlanta Journal Constitution, Best Southern Books 2018 • The Christian Science Monitor’s Best Books 2018 •
“A profound impact on Hurston’s literary legacy.”—New York Times
“One of the greatest writers of our time.”—Toni Morrison
“Zora Neale Hurston’s genius has once again produced a Maestrapiece.”—Alice Walker
A major literary event: a newly published work from the author of the American classic Their Eyes Were Watching God, with a foreword from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker, brilliantly illuminates the horror and injustices of slavery as it tells the true story of one of the last-known survivors of the Atlantic slave trade—abducted from Africa on the last “Black Cargo” ship to arrive in the United States.
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.
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I’ve had to read a few of Hurston’s other books, and as much as I like those, this book is my favorite. The way this story was told was like non other that I have read before. It was a little eye opening to actually read a work that covered all the things that it did. I’m very happy that I read this book and I would highly recommend it.
Hurston’s Barracoon recounts the life of Cudjo Lewis whose name was Kossula in Africa. He was captured during another tribe’s raid of his village and he was then sold to a slavecatcher and transported to slavery in America in 1859. Cudjo was brought illegally to America on the slave ship Clotilda, and by 1927 he was the last living survivor of the ship when Hurston traveled to Cudjo’s home in Plateau, Alabama to preserve his testimony in an interview. Cudjo’s remarkable memory and gift for storytelling is now a remarkable gift for us to remember the past. We need more stories like the one Hurston helps preserve because if we do not keep remembering, the tendency will become that what happened is over and is not important anymore. Nothing is further from the truth. When you read Cudjo’s story, it is hard for your heart not to ache. But strength can also be gained from his ability to have endured such immense suffering and still have the courage to share his story. Taking in this narrative will put you in deep reflection. The vernacular in which Hurston captures Cudjo’s voice is beautiful in its lyricism. Whisper the words to yourself and relive Cudjo’s life and know you are better for never forgetting the past.
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While I’m glad that I read this, and as a piece of history I’m glad it exists, it didn’t wow me. I made the mistake of reading the prefaces before the interview, which normally makes sense, however in this instance the prefaces tell the entire story, and in greater historical detail than the interview with Cudjo Lewis. The noteworthy difference between the two is that in the interview you get more of the human side of the story. Which is wonderful, but is somewhat lost when you’re reading the same information for the third time. I would highly recommend that anyone picking up this book, read the interview first, then the appendix, then come back around to the prefaces to fill in the historical gaps. The prefaces have good information, and bring up some issues that should be addressed, but reading them first ruined the interview for me. I am glad this book exists and that Hurston preserved Lewis’ dialect. I simply wish I had read this in a different order.
I love Hurston–and this book is indicative of the commitment she had to recording real people’s real stories.
Acclaimed author Zora Neale Hurston traveled to Alabama in the late 20s-early30s to interview Cudjo Lewis, who was captured by a rival African tribe and sold into American slavery. He was on the last ever slave ship, the Clotilda, to transport human cargo to the United States.
Initially, Hurston attempted to pose questions to Cudjo, but he often went his own way with his stories. Amongst numerous other stories, he spoke of his life in Africa, the day when he was captured and the time he spent in the barracoon waiting to be placed on the ship. He also spoke of family trade ies, some of which pointed to the racial injustice and inequality.
The book is very short and the stories of Cudjo’s experiences of being captured, sold and transported to America didn’t carry any impact for me. Hurston wrote down his words as they sounded to her because of his broken English. I was impacted by this as an African-American to think of how far we have had to come to overcome the obstacles placed in our way. Yet I found myself wanting more of his experiences as a captor and a slave. I was left unsatisfied.
Fascinating true story of a man who was a slave. His words preserved. Easy to read.
M. Houston and Mr. Lewis together have provided the reader with an accurate accounting of his last days as a free man on the African continent. The story goes on to continue telling how he lived at the blade survive the middle passage and his life as a man of color in North America. The narrative is written in dialect and it first the Rita must’ve just themselves to it. However, as you continue to read it is a good and easy read.
It revealed some information that is not taught in traditional history books. Hearing it from someone who experienced it brings creditablity for those that want to learn more about slavery.
This book gives you an inside look into the life of a slave in the words of the slave. Very sad, but very informative.
I wish that it had been longer. So many stories like this have been lost forever.
I thought this book was a fantastic look into the past! Well written and fun to read!
This was a quick read. It should be a must read for everyone. Lends insight and appreciation into the real African slave trade…at least one aspect of it. Should be on the reading list for all Middle/High school students in history class…if they still teach history.
Very interesting story. Took some time to get used to reading in the language of the ex-slave but well worth the effort.
I understand that it was written using “slave speech” and I understand why but that also made it slow and difficult to read. Nonetheless, a sad but real part of our collective history.
I thought this was a terrific read. It was entertaining and enlightening. It did not dwell to much on the indignities of slavery, so much;as the background of the protaganist, which was very richly covered.