Dreams of Africa in Alabama
Sylviane A. Diouf reconstructs the story of the Clotilda, the last known ship to bring enslaved Africans to the United States, in 1860, decades after the trade was outlawed. She follows the captives from their lives in West Africa through their capture and the Atlantic crossing, then into slavery in Alabama. After emancipation, the survivors reunited, bought land, and built their own settlement, African Town, where they kept their language and laws. Diouf's account is careful and humane, restoring names and histories to people long treated as a footnote. Questlove named it among his favorite books.
What you might want to know about Dreams of Africa in Alabama
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
The history of the Clotilda, the last slave ship to reach America, and the Africans aboard who founded their own town after emancipation.
Yes. It tells the documented history of the Clotilda, the last slave ship to reach the United States, and the survivors who founded Africatown in Alabama.
Dreams of Africa in Alabama was written by Sylviane A. Diouf, published in 2007 by Oxford University Press.
Dreams of Africa in Alabama is 352 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Dreams of Africa in Alabama takes most readers 5 to 8 hours to finish.
Dreams of Africa in Alabama is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.