Barracoon: The Story of the Last ""Black Cargo""
Written by Zora Neale Hurston
Narrated by Robin Miles
4/5
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About this audiobook
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 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 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.
Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston was a novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist. She wrote four novels (Jonah’s Gourd Vine, 1934; Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1937; Moses, Man of the Mountains, 1939; and Seraph on the Suwanee, 1948); two books of folklore (Mules and Men, 1935, and Every Tongue Got to Confess, 2001); a work of anthropological research, (Tell My Horse, 1938); an autobiography (Dust Tracks on a Road, 1942); an international bestselling nonfiction work (Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo,” 2018); and over fifty short stories, essays, and plays. She attended Howard University, Barnard College, and Columbia University and was a graduate of Barnard College in 1928. She was born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama, and grew up in Eatonville, Florida.
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Reviews for Barracoon
569 ratings52 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was a Birdseye view of the ravages of greedy African and colonials who used people who became slaves because they were expendable for their money scams. If you were poor and not in the chiefs favor some were sold/traded. The story of his son’s loss trying to collect for his father’s railroad injury was heartbreaking. Loved zora’s gifts of fruit and meat to keep the dialog going
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The first six chapters of the audio book consisted of a preface and then an introduction. That was drudgery.... but then the story got more interesting as the main character explained how he came to be captured and enslaved, and his experiences once he got to America. What makes the story truly interesting is the account of the original African battles that lead to one man’s capture and a subsequent seventy day trip across the sea on a slave ship. This particular ship allowed captives on the decks and tried to keep the “cargo” alive for later sale. What happened after arrival is not as clear but the accounts of the original kidnapping make the book worth consideration.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved this so much! Highly recommended and a must read!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved how short and detailed the story was! She told Cudjo's story without involving herself within it and I like how she did not correct his speech.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I couldn’t finish it; it was difficult to listen to. Plus, the foreword is so extensive that the actual book doesn’t start for a while!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hurston’s book length interview with the last recorded slave in 1927 is an important addition to the library of slavery in America books. The dialogue spoken by Cudjo Lewis is difficult at first to decipher, but after a few pages, it becomes second nature to the reader. The speech pattern lends credence to the man’s powerful words. His stories are gruesome, so much so, that many readers might want to avoid a meal before sitting down to read it. Any scholar studying slavery in the U.S. would want to put Hurston’s book at the top of his/her list of primary sources.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Great book! The audiobook is fantastic. Check it out
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is an emotional roller coaster but it’s necessary for our culture!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I expected more of Cudjo's story from the exploitative and enslavement perspective, but it was HIS story to tell and he shared the pieces of him that he wanted. Who can disagree with that?
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Captivating account of getting captured and sold into slavery. Expressive voice over. Well done production.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The book was excellent, and Robin Miles did a fantastic job with the narration! It’s clear she puts a lot of work getting into the depths of the book and she brought a lot to the narration. The book itself was so interesting and heartbreaking and hopeful...
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Perfect book for those who want to learn more history
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/555. Barracoon : The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" (audio) by Zora Neale Hurstonrediscovered and edited by Deborah G. Plantreader: Robin Milespublished: 2018, but originally written in 1931format: 3:53 Libby audiobook (~107 pages equivalent, stretched to 208 pages in paperback)acquired: Librarylistened: Oct 8-12rating: 4½The story of the last living African born American slave, told in his own voice. Hurston interviewed Cudjo Lewis in 1927, and she includes herself in the book, but she gives him control of the narrative, and he takes it in some unexpected places, and colors it in his own variety of southern black English. His language, beautifully captured by Robin Miles on the audio, hangs around after the book.Lewis, born Kossola (pronounced here, roughly, KUH-zoolah), insists on talking first about his ancestry in Africa. And spends the heart of narrative on his home continent, including the story of his capture in a gruesome village massacre. But he also goes into his time in the barracoon in Ouidah (modern Benin), his purchase, 70-day passage across the Atlantic to Mobile, Alabama, his life as a slave, and then a free man who married, had several children, and lost several in tragic, and sometimes mysterious ways in Alabama. He was 19 when he made the passage to America in 1859, and so 87 years old when Hurston interviewed him.It's not clear to me whether she continued to interview him, but she wrote up this book in 1931 and then when tried to get it published, there were no takers. Publishers were uncomfortable with the extended dialect, and especially with his Africa. In the mythology of the time, Africa should have been something of positive, something to long for. But, despite his painfully missing his home, the Africa he writes about is brutal, marred with terrible violence. Deborah G. Plant recently (?) discovered the manuscript and it was first published earlier this year.“We cry ’cause we slave. In night time we cry, we say we born and raised to be free people and now we slave. We doan know why we be bring ’way from our country to work lak dis. It strange to us. Everybody lookee at us strange. We want to talk wid de udder colored folkses but dey doan know whut we say. Some makee de fun at us.”
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The tragic story of a young boy kidnapped in his homeland and shipped around the globe to serve as a slave in a foreign country. He was the among the last of the slaves to come to American but was still enslaved for five year of brutal treatment. After the Civil War freed him, he wanted more than anything to go home, but was unable to. So he married and made a life where he was as best as he could. Still, his life was marked by tragedy and his old age by loneliness. This is an oral history which captures his memories of his homeland and his life on American soil.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A historical account of a resilient man’s story of capture, slavery, injustice, love, family, and loneliness. An important and impactful narrative that should be read, acknowledged, and honored by all. Suitable for all ages, and an incredibly useful tool in learning about US slavery from the perspective of one who endured. A true gift from Ms. Hurston.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Book: Wasn't as interesting as I was expecting. It covers ground that has been covered previously and in much more depth and detail.
Audio: Nicely read with excellent and appropriate accenting. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I think it's quite hard to follow as the author tries to replicate the exact words and speaking style of the main character (which is mentioned by author in the preface).
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5This copy skipped chapters. Couldn’t piece together the story.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hope this becomes apart of curriculum for students. Very interesting.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good book sharing some history and stories of a ex-slave.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It chronicles the lives of the people stolen from Africa long after slave trade was abolished in this country. We learn tribal culture and history of one particular tribe enslaving many others for sale across the ocean. Life in slavery, in freedom in Africa Town, in families and the conflicts with whites and American born slaves; all told in first person narrative remembrances by a man who was forced to make the terrible passage from Africa to America.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I love Zora Neale Hurston anyway
And finding Barracoon just confirmed that. This edition is more than the original manuscript, containing much informative front and back matter: The book itself is actually quite small. It's enough, though, to break your heart for Kossula and the 12 million Africans who died grieving and longing for an Africa they would never see again, and enough to make you want to learn more. I'm off to see if I can find the film footage of him that she shot. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was a quick read. For some, it might be a little difficult due to dialect. I liked this though because it's a first-hand account of being a slave. This is set up in an interview like format. I've read a ton of Zora before reading this book. In some ways I think they over hyped this book especially if this is your first Zora book, but in other ways I'm glad they published this book. It's a good book to read today during Juneteenth.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Zora Neale Hurston's Barracoon was written in the late 1920's and remained unpublished until 2018 when the remains of the Clotilda were found. The Clotilda was an illegal slave ship that picked up the last bit of human cargo in 1859, 50 years after the international slave trade had been abandoned. Cudjo Lewis, born Oluale Kossola, was captured by other Africans at age 19 and sold into slavery by them. Transported on the Clotilda by the Meaher brothers, he survived the Middle Passage, and 5.5 years a slave before emancipation. He helped to find Africatown (Plateau), AL after gaining his freedom. The book is written as a reflection on how Lewis spoke. Absolutely fascinating to hear the story of his capture, enslavement, freedom, and most of all his overwhelming desire to return to his native Africa.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Cudjo's narrative itself is quite fascinating but I found the arrangement and choice of supplemental information frustrating. For instance, footnotes from the editor claim Hughes' assumptions about Cudjo's African hometown to be erroneous, yet never offers the correct information or how we know she was wrong.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I could have done without the preface by Deborah G. Plant, or at least I think it would have been better placed as an appendix. It’s a rather lengthy and scholarly analysis of the politics and significance of the work in the context of Hurston’s life, and so is more about Hurston than the book, although it reiterates (or rather, pre-iterates) a great deal of Cudjo’s history that he later tells in his own words.
As for Cudjo’s story, it covers a great deal more than just the Middle Passage, as you might surmise from the title. In fact, the parts of his story that left the greatest impression on me were the social and economic injustices that occurred after he was emancipated. - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The story of Barracoon should have been interesting, but with all the hype with introduction and editor’s note and the foreword by Alice Walker and the preface and introduction by the author, I was exhausted and totally disheartened with the story. I struggled to stay on task with the unfolding story. Yes, I wanted to learn about the degradation of fellow humans but maybe I was not in the correct frame of mind with all the civil unrest during this summer.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Barracoon is about a man named Cudjoe Lewis (nee Oluale Kossola), who at the time was the last known survivor of the Clotilda. This was a ship that was involved in bringing slaves from Africa to America at a time when slavery was still legal within the U.S. but transporting slaves from other countries was made illegal. After years of being a slave, Cudjoe lives through the Civil War and is freed. But his life is not all uphill there by a long shot. He and his family go through many sufferings, including the early deaths of his children. Some of his stories sadly still resonant today, such as the shooting of his youngest son by a police officer and the feeling of hopelessness he expresses of ever being able to see justice done. Nevertheless, Cudjoe is often times optimistic about his life.This book originated from an article that Zora Neale Hurston wrote as an anthropologist; it is NOT a novel like her more famous Their Eyes Were Watching God. Despite Hurston interviewing the main subject in the late 1920s to early 1930s, this book was not published until 2018. One reason it was not published during Hurston's lifetime is that it is written in vernacular language; I could see this maybe being a bit of a hurdle reading in print but the audiobook narrator was so excellent that it wasn't a problem. For the audiobook listener, this is a relatively quick read clocking in at about 4 hours long in total, and about 45 minutes to an hour at the top was an academic introduction. There were a couple of informative tidbits from that section, but it meandered for a bit too long about the origins of this work ... apparently there was a bit of controversy about Hurston not properly quoting some source material in the first article she wrote about Cudjoe. Robin Miles, the audiobook narrator, was wonderful all around. I felt like I was sitting down having a conversation with Cudjoe for the main part of the book; during the introduction, I felt like I was sitting in a college classroom listening to a really good lecturer.All in all, this was a fascinating read. Cudjoe's ways of thinking are so open and honest; Hurston lets his voice come through on the page with little interference from herself except as a narrator coming to collect his stories. It's heart-breaking at times and occasionally humorous at other times. It may be far too many years late, but it's good his story is finally being told to a broader audience.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Collected in the late 1920s, Barracoon is an oral history from a former slave, Cudjo Lewis, who was transported to America as part of the last cargo of Africans sold into slavery. Barracoon languished in manuscript form for 90 years before finally being published in 2018.Hurston's work came under the category of anthropological research; she was a decade and more from the novels that later made her famous. In putting the manuscript together, she consciously chose to leave Lewis' words in his own dialect -- a choice that was largely responsible for the book's failure to find a publisher. The other reason was Lewis' reporting and Hurston's unvarnished presentation of the fact that, like many Africans taken in slaving raids, his original captors had been members of other African tribes.Lewis' story centers largely on his experiences as a young man growing up in a Yoruba tribal village in Africa. Taken captive at 19 and sold as part of the last slave cargo exported to America, Lewis gives short shrift to the Middle Passage, and does not dwell on the five years spent in slavery before the Emancipation Proclamation (and later, 13th Amendment) made him a free man. Many of his reminiscences center on life after emancipation, as he joined forces with other African ex-slaves, standing somewhat apart from the American-born blacks, and creating their own "Africatown" in Alabama. Lewis married, fathered six children, and outlived them all. Widowed and childless as he entered his 90s, many of his stories centered on the life of that family.It's certainly a valuable piece of oral history, and moments of it have great power, but it's not great literature.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A short but essential read for all to understand the experience, told first hand to an excellent anthropologist and evocative writer