Barracoon

The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

By: Zora Neale Hurston

Narrated by: Robin Miles

Length: 3 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

A major literary event: a never-before-published work from the author of the American classic Their Eyes Were Watching God that 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 86-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 50 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 20th-century, Barracoon brilliantly illuminates 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.

©2018 The Zora Neale Hurston Trust (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"Capturing the dialect, accent, and intonation of Cudjo Lewis...presents a challenging task for narrator Robin Miles, who must deliver one of the integral aspects of Hurston's work: a reconstruction of Lewis's African and Southern accents. Miles's rendition is well done, with clear, deliberate diction that places appropriate emphasis on Lewis's emotional reactions." (AudioFile)

Enlightening, but lacking

Seems to be a lot missing from this book. If Hurston spoke to him as frequently as indicated ,I would expect more information, directly or indirectly.

Brilliant!! Grateful to have read!!

As a historian, I feel honored to have read a book written by Hurston, published after her death. Cudjo’s story deserved to have been told and I’m grateful to every person who made it possible. A GREAT performance by Robin Miles!!

Interesting and historial

This book was interesting and led me to a deeper understanding of how slavery developed, not only through the European slave trade, but by the African people themselves. Sadly this brutality of tribe against tribe continues today in some countries.
I'm so glad that Hurston documented her interviews with "the last slave" for all to read.

An oral transmission of his life before, during, after

Although illegal since the early aughts smugglers continued the transatlantic slave trade. Our oral historian, being the last survivor of the last slave ship, gives us memories of his life in Africa in vivid detail, as well as subsequent life detail.
An invaluable historical document as well as a very intimate personal one.
Thank you Zora Neale Hurston for your sensitivity and your gift to readers of the future.

great story

loved it. Easy to enjoy. Goes fast. Glad I got a chance to hear this one!

Barracoon

A giant in the literary world, Zora Neale Hurston was unable to get this story published in her lifetime. This is a great book for audio because it is done in the colloquial English of Kossula, a former slave brought from Africa on the last known slave ship. Relatively short, four hours, it covers his life from abduction by another tribe, sale to White slavers, and his subsequent life in America. Great first person narrative for history buffs.

loved it!

It left me wanting more stories. I truly enjoyed learning about Africa and it's traditions.

A REAL Eye opener.

This is a must read for all generations and all communities in this country and the world!

Tragic Poetry

The story of Cudjoe Lewis was tragic, and the writing in the book pure poetry. My only complaint is the introduction, which sounded like a master's degree thesis slapped on to make the book longer. But you can skip that and go right to this sad and wonderful story. I highly recommend it.

These are the stories we need to hear

Black history wasn't really a thing in my schooling, so I wanted to educate myself. Hearing this man's story in his own voice shook me to know it's all real. It's an entirely different matter to hear a story directly from its main character than to hear it retold through a textbook. It opened my eyes to how many types of barriers this man encountered, including from other African-Americans in his community who bullied his children for being "savages" and not simply children of slaves in the South. It made me believe that the main purpose for this man's life is to tell what he lived so we can learn from it.