Volume Two, Issue 14

June 26, 2022

We desire to see everyone living in a healthy relationship with the Lord.

Joanna Snow Ministries is located in Downtown Mobile, and we love it!

Muddy Treasure

from Cossondra

Many of our glimpses into Mobile history have examined how the city has been shaped by water. We have talked about explorers, diseases, war, and even tunnels. This week, we will look at a ship, the Clotilda.

Locals may have heard of the Clotilda. She was burned and sunk around 160 years ago near Twelve Mile Island in the Mobile Delta. Her location was lost until 2019, when a team of researchers and a dogged journalist, Ben Raines, found her. She is still charred from fire and has some damage from water erosion, but most of her, including her hold, is intact, preserved in thick delta mud.

Why is it so important that her hold is preserved? During her years of seaworthiness, she carried many things in storage: lumber, rum casks, barrels of tropical fruit, European clothing. But during her last trip, she held the most precious, most maltreated cargo of her life: 110 Africans who had been kidnapped by a neighboring tribe and sold to Americans for prices they thought were suitable for human lives.

In his brilliant book, The Last Slave Ship: The True Story of How Clotilda Was Found, Her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning, author Ben Raines details the history of Clotilda, the men who owned her and sailed her, the captives that were sold to them, their descendants, and their post-Civil-War settlement.

That settlement, Africatown, sits within the Mobile city limits and was established by men and women who had survived kidnapping, the Mid-Atlantic passage, and slavery. Freed in 1865, many of Clotilda's people built a community with homes, gardens, and eventually a church and school. Through the decades, the community grew and shrank again, as many have over hundreds of years. Industry and highways have taken over some of the land, and pollution has infiltrated some of their waters. However, there are still descendants of these freed slaves living in the area, still making their mark on Mobile.

Recently, author Ben Raines joined with members of the Clotilda Descendants Association in a presentation about Clotilda and Africatown at the Mobile Public Library. There are plans for an Africatown Museum. And, according to local news station WPMI, the descendants are going to be part of a Netflix documentary.

They need to tell their stories so that we can learn from them and so that we can learn about them. But telling their stories isn't all they are doing. They are making a difference.

A recently established organization, Africatown Redevelopment Corporation (ARC), states that they have three main goals: Revitalize housing, preserve the community's history and develop commerce. They are housed in a building that also operates as a food bank for the community. The building had been empty for years until Mayor Sandy Stimpson and Commissioner Merceria Ludgood approached the owners. The building, appraised at $300,000, was sold to the City of Mobile for $50,000. With grants and donations, the building was renovated and brought up to code and now is making a mark in Africatown, not only bringing the community together but also helping those in need.

Who were the original owners of the building? Not descendants of the slaves, but descendants of the ship owner who sent to Africa for them, the Meaher family.

According to WPMI, The Meaher family released this statement.

"When Mayor Stimpson contacted the Meaher family regarding the sale and/or donation of this property to the City of Mobile for this project, we could not think of a better way to give back to the community. We all look forward to watching this endeavor become a reality with a lasting positive impact on the community for years to come."

It was a written statement. The Meaher family won't speak publicly about the Clotilda or anything associated with it. Why? Perhaps they are embarrassed, ashamed of what their ancestors did. Maybe they are afraid to open themselves up to lawsuits or even violence. But the people of Africatown aren't looking for revenge. They are looking for reconciliation. Perhaps this venture is a first, solid step to that.

We can burn our ships and our bridges, but the hurt can still linger. I pray that we won't let embarrassment or fear or hurt keep us from reconciliation. It is good to reach out, good to try. Sometimes treasures can be found in the mud.

Do you want to help people grow in their relationships both with people and with God? You can do just that by helping Joanna Snow Ministries Inc grow! If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation to our ministry, you can do that online by going to our donations page.