We often tell us to put the past behind us and use the past as lessons to propel us forward. Refrain from brooding over the past, but look at the future, which is within our means to write. The past is a done thing which cannot be rewritten.
Is there any merit in prodding the past and trying to write the wrong that our ancestors did by omission or commission?
This documentary makes one thing of this very point. Can we blame all our misgivings on how our ancestors were treated? Is transgenerational PSTD justified enough to be the reason for the current generation to be dysfunctional, economically backward and in a quandary? Is validation of the deeds of our forefathers needed for us to prosper in life? Or is the mere lack of their recognition just an excuse to remain as sluggards?
It is good to put the facts straight. As history is written as dictated by the victors, their version is just one aspect of what really happened. A big chunk of what the losers experienced will inevitably be lost in the annals of times. It is good to know the other version, but are we duty-bound to correct the past, to right the wrong?
Then there is the question of the descendants of the historical aggressors being penalised for the misdeeds of their ancestors. Are they culpable of their sins? Then, there is a question of reparation. Is a simple apology sufficient? Whenever there is money involved, the intention is always suspect.
A poor part of the area around Mobile, Alabama, called Plateau, had a local tale. Local folks have been saying that they were descendants of more than 100 captive Africans who landed at the shores of the town on a particular slave ship, Clotilda, way back in 1860. The legend goes that, even though slavery was outlawed in the US in 1808, the clandestine international slave trade was very much alive. Slave ships would arrive on the shores of Mobile in the cover of darkness. Slaves would disembark off the shores and make a beeline to the overgrowth, leading to the slave traders' den. The ships would be burnt off so as not to leave any evidence.
This trade ended after the Civil War ended, and the Emancipation Declaration was passed by Congress in 1865.
The descendants of slaves and slaveowners carried on with their lives. Many of the affluent people of the area may have benefitted from the slave trade, whilst many of the slaves' downlines remain downtrodden and poor. Some would have left the nest as well. The family of Timothy Meaher, the owner of Clotilda, still possess their old estate and many parts of the town. They remain secretive about their ancestors and their activities.
Word has it that some slaves who were freed from slavery lived in an area called Africatown and had plans to return to Africa but never really made it back. The present generation still lives in their memory and yearns to connect with them, perhaps via their belongings. As the African tradition dictates, people communicate through their personal belongings.
Tracing the remains of Clotilda was a challenge as the site of their last whereabouts proved elusive for lack of documentation. They had some film footage and written interviews of the last living slave on the Clotilda, Cudjoe Lewis, by America's first Black female filmmaker, Zora Neale Hurston. Her book about Lewis, Barracoon, was published in 2018. It was used as a reference in this documentary.
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| Clotilda |
A group of divers found a piece of Clotilda's wreckage and positively identified it as the 1860 ship.
The excitement then began. The question of Africatown/ Plateau and Mobile being a tourist destination and how the vicinity would prosper came to the fore. In a town hall discussion, the question of reparation sneaked in, too.
The point to remember is that whatever stimulus package or economic opportunities are handed out, the occupants of the lower rungs of the food chain rarely grab their chance. The high-heeled would grasp no matter how difficult the odds are stacked against them.
