Africatown, also known as AfricaTown USA and Africa Town, is a community in Mobile County, Alabama, located three miles (5 km) north of the city of Mobile. It was formed by West Africans who were among the last known illegal shipment of slaves to the United States. These Tarkbar people created their own tribal community and retained their customs and language following the American Civil War.[1]
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Africatown had its beginnings in a plan by some wealthy Mobile brothers and their friends to see if they could evade the law and import slaves. They bet each other they could elude federal authorities. Timothy Meaher, a shipbuilder and landowner; his brother Byrnes Meaher, John Dabey and others invested money to hire a crew and captain for one of Meaher's ships to go to Africa and bring back laborers for slaves.
They used Timothy Meaher's ship Clotilde under Captain William Foster. It sailed in 1860 from Ghana, West Africa for its final destination of Mobile, more than half a century after the slave trade had been outlawed. Over 100 Africans were aboard, having been sold into bondage by the King of Dahomey. Dahomey warriors raided a Tarkbar village near the city of Tamale in Ghana, and took the survivors to Whydah, now Benin, where they were put up for sale. The captured tribesmen were sold for $100 each to William Foster, captain of the Clotilde.[1][2][3]
In July 1860, the Clotilde entered Mobile Bay and approached the port of Mobile. Captain Foster loaded the slaves onto a riverboat and sent them ashore; he then set fire to the Clotilde to hide the evidence of the crime. The Africans were distributed among the parties who had invested in the venture. Federal authorities learned of this illegal activity and prosecuted Meaher and his partners. The 1861 federal court case of US v. Byrnes Meaher, Timothy Meaher and John Dabey did not find enough evidence to convict Meaher. The case was dismissed. The start of the American Civil War was believed to have been important in the government's dropping the case.[1][2][3]
Thirty-two Africans had been taken to Magazine Point, the property owned by Timothy Meaher north of Mobile. As the government was investigating the illegal importation, the Africans were left on their own to survive. This was the site that would become Africatown. Among the Africans was a man named Cudjoe Kazoola Lewis, who was the last survivor of the original group, living until 1935.[1][2][3] The group built shelters of whatever they found growing in the Alabama forests, and adapted their hunting to the rich game they found in the area. After the Civil War and Emancipation, they were joined by a number of their fellow tribesmen. A man who became known as Charlie Poteet was their chief; their medicine man was named Jabez. In time they formed a self-governing society. They spoke their native language and carried on their tribal traditions into the 1950s.[3]
Gradually the original group of settlers and their descendants dwindled, as people moved to other areas. Their children went to public schools and learned English. Remaining members would gather on Sundays after church to discuss the group's welfare. Of the remaining people, Cudjoe Lewis was the best known. He gave interviews to the many writers who studied Africatown during the early 1900s. Up until World War II, Africatown remained a distinct community.[3]
Much of the community now lies within Mobile's northern city limits, with portions in southeastern Prichard, a suburb of Mobile. In 1997 descendants and friends formed the Africatown Community Mobilization Project to seek recognition of an Africatown Historical District and encourage the restoration and development of the town site.[1][2] The site was placed on the Mobile's African American Heritage Trail in 2009.[4]