Latham to insert herself into this narrative since it is a topic and story that is newly being told and has only recently been brought to light. In their author's note, It is addressed that some readers may 'question whether this was our story to tell.' While I agree with them that it should not be left solely to the victims and descendants to tell this story, I do question the authors saying that we 'need to work together and include multiple perspectives to 'get it right'.' What perspectives specifically did they think needed to be added to 'get it right'? I'm unsure if I believe that it was specifically the place of Ms. Latham was not BIPOC when I downloaded this title and the way that part of this was addressed did cause me to rethink how I felt about the book a little bit. So if you're looking for something of that nature, there are some resources listed in the back of the book to peruse.

This in no way changed my thoughts and ratings**įirst things first, to be VERY upfront, this book is written by two authors, one of whom is Black, one of whom is white, and neither of whom are descended from the survivors of the Clotilda. **Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers in connection with the New England Library Collaborative Teen Summit for the eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review. 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.

At the end of the Civil War, the survivors created a community for themselves they called African Town, which still exists to this day.

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. 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.

Chronicling the story of the last Africans brought illegally to America in 1860, African Town is a powerful and stunning novel-in-verse.

African Town by Irene Latham