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Nominee for Readers' Favorite History & Biography (2018)

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.

The Sexy Nerd's Review. . .

This is a book I’ve been wanting to read for some time and I feel so enriched about having done so. The story of Cudjo Lewis was quite captivating as his memory took the reader to a dark place that many would dare not go. He came from such a rich land with Africa’s rituals and teachings. Being a young boy in Africa, he enjoyed learning from the wise men before him about their customs while he dreamt of one day becoming a man and having a family and being a hunter like them.

But, the dream Cudjo had would soon become his worst nightmare that he never quite woke up from. Cudjo was stolen from the motherland of Africa alongside other children, men and women. The king who ruled his village was murdered as well as several of the villagers. Through the melee and chaos, Cudjo lost sight of his family and begged his captures to let him go back to his parents and siblings, only for his cries to fall upon deafened ears. What made Cudjo so unique was that he was the last of the surviving slaves to live to tell this tale. One of my favorite authors, Zora Neal Hurston, was charged with writing Cudjo’s story and what he told Ms. Hurston was so hard to read, it made my soul ache and weep. I cannot believe he lived through slavery for at least five years before he was freed. Seeing his family murdered as a young child; to have to see people he loved murdered in America, he clearly demonstrated resilience and strength.

I found myself wanting to go through the pages and just give Cudjo a hug. I felt like he needed one so desperately, but knowing how he could get sometimes when Ms. Hurston was interviewing him, I know he would not have accepted the gesture of being touched. I could feel his fear through the pages and it made me angry because there was nothing I could do to help this man.

For the reader, I have to say this is an amazing story to read but it is hard to digest. I found myself wanting to physically hurt the people who hurt him and it was frustrating. Even in spite of all that he said, he remained humbled and never lost sight of his religious beliefs. I suppose he had to believe in something to keep him going.

The Sexy Nerd gives Barracoon five stars. I wish I could have met Cudjo Lewis in person, but Ms. Hurston did such an excellent job in bringing his words to life, I feel as though he and I got to know each other. It was his wish for his story to be told and passed down through generations to come. I’m so thankful Ms. Hurston captured the pure essence of the man I got to know as Cudjo Lewis. His story will never die.

Until next time, Nerds, you know how we do.

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