African Town

In 1859, Alabama shipyard owner Timothy Meaher bets that he can evade the federal ban on importing enslaved people. The resulting voyage of the Clotilda tears 110 captives from communities in what is now Benin and carries them across the Atlantic. Told in verse through multiple perspectives, the novel follows five young survivors—Abilè, Gumpa, Kêhounco, Kossola, and Kupollee—as they endure enslavement, build families, and help establish the community later known as Africatown. The story draws on the documented history of the last known ship to bring enslaved Africans to the United States and centers the lives and aspirations of those who survived it.