Clotilda Resources
The story of the Clotilda has been told many times, by many people, across more than a century. Some accounts came from the survivors themselves. Others were written by descendants, historians, archaeologists, journalists, and novelists who found in this story something the world still needs to reckon with.
Below you'll find a curated library of books, articles, and films about the Clotilda, her 110 captives, and the Africatown community they built after Emancipation. Some are scholarly; some are written for younger readers; some are first-person accounts that have only recently been published. Each one adds something the others can't.
If you're new to this story, we'd suggest starting with Sylviane Diouf's Dreams of Africa in Alabama or Ben Raines's The Last Slave Ship. Educators looking for a classroom-friendly entry point should consider Charles Waters and Irene Latham's African Town, a novel in verse for middle-grade readers. For the most recent scholarship, see Hannah Durkin's The Survivors of the Clotilda and James Delgado's account of the wreck's discovery.
This list is updated regularly as new work is published. If you've written or know of a resource we should include, please contact us.
Books and Novels
By Ben Raines, the journalist who located the Clotilda wreck in 2019. A first-person account of the discovery interwoven with the history of the ship, the captives, and the descendants who kept the story alive.
Zora Neale Hurston's 1931 interviews with Cudjoe Lewis, the last known Clotilda survivor. Suppressed for nearly 90 years and finally published in 2018 — a primary source unlike any other.
Published in 1914, this is one of the earliest accounts of the Clotilda survivors written from interviews with the community. A foundational primary source for everything that came after.
A scholarly history connecting the Clotilda captives' West African origins to the community they founded in Mobile. Robertson traces the cultural threads — language, religion, kinship — that survived the Middle Passage.
A definitive scholarly account by historian Sylviane Diouf. Often recommended as the best single-volume introduction to the Clotilda story.
A novel in verse for middle-grade readers, told from multiple Clotilda survivors' perspectives. Widely adopted in middle-school curricula.
A modern history of the community itself — from its founding through industrial encroachment, environmental crises, and the ongoing fight for preservation.
By the maritime archaeologist who led the formal underwater investigation. The most detailed account of the wreck itself, what it confirmed, and what we now know about the ship.
The newest major work on the topic. Durkin reconstructs the lives of the 110 captives in unprecedented detail — names, kinships, what happened to them after Emancipation.
Films & Documentaries
