For several years, we have followed the search for and the ultimate discovery of the schooner Clotilda, believed to be the last ship to carry enslaved Africans to the United States. Now, descendants of the survivors are commemorating the discovery of the wreck of the infamous slave ship and the resilience of the 110 captives who survived the voyage. 

The international slave trade had been illegal in the United States since 1807. Nevertheless, in the autumn of 1859, or the summer of 1860, depending on the source, Captain William Foster brought the schooner, Clotilda, into Mobile Bay with a cargo of 110 captives from West Africa. Federal authorities had been tipped off to the arrival of the schooner. Fearful of criminal charges, Captain Foster arrived in the river at night and transferred his human cargo to a riverboat, then burned and scuttled the Clotilda. 

The enslaved people carried aboard the Clotilda remained captive until the end of the Civil War. A small group of survivors and descendants then reunited in hopes of returning to Africa but instead created a new community – known today as Africatown – in the Plateau area of Mobile.

In 2019, the wreck of the Clotilda was found off Twelve Mile Island in the Mobile River delta. For descendants of the survivors of the slave ship, the discovery was the completion and a validation of their history — a history of both the horrors of slavery as well as of the triumph and resilience of the human spirit in the settlement of Africatown, a self-contained community, where African customs were upheld.

The Clotilda Descendants Association will present the second showing of the short stage highlight of “An Ocean in My Bones” on February 13, 2022. Doors will open at 1:00 show will start at 2:00 panel discussion at 3:00.

This year’s event will feature the stories of slave ship Clotilda and Africatown being brought to life in a short stage highlight titled “An Ocean in My Bones,” developed by playwright and award-winning director Terrence Spivey.

The roughly 45-minute one-act highlight is a precursor to the full-length stage play that will world premiere in Mobile, in February 2024. 

Below is a short video by Nicole Ellis about how descendants of the voyage of the Clotilda have commemorated its discovery.

A neighborhood reacts to finding the ship that brought their ancestors to America