Barracoon
By Zora Neale Hurston
- Release Date: 2018-05-08
- Genre: History
Description
In 1927, Zora Neale Hurston went to Plateau, Alabama to interview eighty-six-year-old Cudjo Lewis. Of the millions of men, women, and children transported from Africa to America as slaves, Cudjo was the only person alive to tell the story of this integral part of the nation’s history. Hurston was there to record Cudjo’s firsthand account of the raid that led to his capture and bondage fifty years after the Atlantic slave trade was outlawed in the United States.
In 1931, Hurston returned to Plateau. Spending more than three months there, she talked in depth with Cudjo about the details of his life. During those weeks, the young writer and the elderly formerly enslaved man ate peaches and watermelon that grew in the backyard and talked about Cudjo’s past: memories from his childhood in Africa, the horrors of being captured and held in a barracoon for selection by American slavers, the harrowing experience of the Middle Passage packed with more than 100 other souls aboard the Clotilda, and the years he spent in slavery until the end of the Civil War.
Based on interviews featuring Cudjo’s unique vernacular and written from Hurston’s perspective with the compassion and singular style that have made her one of the preeminent American authors of the twentieth century, Barracoon masterfully illustrates the tragedy of slavery and of one life forever defined by it. Offering insight into the pernicious legacy that continues to haunt us all, black and white, this poignant and powerful work is an invaluable contribution to our shared history and culture.
Edited and with an introduction by Deborah G. Plant, and with a foreward from the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award-winning author Alice Walker, the publication of Zora Neale Hurston's Barracoon is a literary event for students, academics, and every reader.
Freshman Common Read: Howard University
Reviews
Love it!
5By AhdoshsodbaifneVery authentic ❤️A Book Everyone Should Read
4By angeleno704Wow Cudjo Lewis is a storyteller allowing us to get a glimpse of his life. An important read!Unique & Fascinating
5By Rukiya777You get a glimpse into what it was like for an African while on their own soil, then going through capture, middle passage, and arrival. It's very humanizing and makes it real versus a tragic human event. It shows African American slaves as three dimensional human beings, and the traumas human beings suffered as they were dragged away forever. It's a voice I've never heard before, usually a slave story begins with either the middle passage or begins with them having arrived in America. I loved it and read it within a few hours.Beautiful
5By ReadKeiSpeedBeautifully written. Angelic, necessary.EVERYTHING
5By Chunli97BEST BOOK EVER MAN!!!!Absolutely captivating!!
5By Lotusflower84I finished this book in one day! I usually try to ration out my pages so that I can read a good book over a week (at least) but I could not put this book down! Ms. Neale-Hurston honored this courageous man’s story by writing it just as he told it. Her attention to detail and her loving heart can be felt when turning each page. While Mr. Lewis shares his heartbreaking experience, it shines a light of true perseverance.Incredibly Important History
5By sparrowlarkWho better than Hurston to chronicle Cudjo Lewis’s life? She does a masterful job of interviewing him and the resulting narrative is moving.Just a piece of advise
4By TwogatekeeperPlease start reading with the second introduction. The first part of the book is someone writing about what you will read and it spoils it. The second introduction is truly the start of the book and gives you all the background information you need. Thanks
