The Story of Cudjo Lewis

Cudjo Lewis, (ca. 1841-1935), (birth name of Oluale Kossola (Kazoola)), along with 120 others, was sold into slavery at the age of 19.

The slave ship Clotilda travelled from the West African country of Benin ( Cudjo Lewis’s birth place) to Alabama in 1860 just one year prior to the Civil War (the bloodiest war in the history of the United States) that erupted on April 12, 1861.

To learn about the life of Oluale Kossola you can read Zora Neale Hurston’s book Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”.

Zora first attempted publication in 1931, but it took fifty-eight years after her death (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) to finally make publication. Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”