African Town by Charles Waters
Chronicling the story of the last Africans brought illegally to America in 1860, African Town is a powerful and stunning novel-in-verse.In 1860, long after the United States outlawed the importation of enslaved laborers, 110 men, women and children from Benin and Nigeria were captured and brought to Mobile, Alabama aboard a ship called Clotilda. Their journey includes the savage Middle Passage and being hidden in the swamplands along the Alabama River before being secretly parceled out to various plantations, where they made desperate attempts to maintain both their culture and also fit into the place of captivity to which they'd been delivered. At the end of the Civil War, the survivors created a community for themselves they called African Town, which still exists to this day. Told in 14 distinct voices, including that of the ship that brought them to the American shores and the founder of African Town, this powerfully affecting historical novel-in-verse recreates a pivotal moment in US and world history, the impacts of which we still feel today.
Irene Latham is the author of more than a dozen poetry, fiction, and picture books, including the Charlotte Huck Honor Book Can I Touch Your Hair? After reading Sy Montgomery's The Soul of an Octopus, she became enamored with octopuses and won the 2016 ILA Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award. She enjoys sending and receiving postcards just as much as Agnes. Irene Latham's website is www.irenelatham.com.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780593322888 |
| ISBN 10 | 0593322886 |
| Title | African Town |
| Author | Charles Waters |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Penguin Putnam Inc |
| Year published | 2022-01-04 |
| Number of pages | 448 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |