On July 8, 1860 the last known slave ship, Clotilda, sailed into Mobile Bay with 110 African men, women, and children on board. Following Emancipation in 1866, many of these families established the settlement of Africatown, one of the first towns founded, continuously occupied, and controlled by blacks in the United States. Their descendants carry with them their ancestors’ legacy, with some still living in the settlement today.
Photos courtesy of: Africatown Footage, Alabama Department of Archives and History, Library of Congress, and University of South Alabama