Sometime in the summer of 1860, just over 100 kidnapped africans children came ashore in Mobile Bay, part of the gulf coast of Alabama.

The reports on the specific number of slaves on board vary anywhere from 109 to 116. The slave trade had been outlawed for over 50 years at this point, but that didn’t stop William Foster from seeking a profit on the exploitation of human lives.

More than 8,000 captives were brought to the American South by slave traders following the 1807 ban.

American shipowners, merchants, seamen and corrupt officials, a majority of then based out of New York City, continued shipping captive Africans well past when it was legal. The ship that brought the slaves in was a 86 foot double masted Schooner, called the Clotilda.

SHOW NOTES:

1:00 William Foster

1:55 Voyage to Africa

3:10 Return to America

4:20 Scuttled to Silence

5:10 After the Emancipation

6:15 Africatown

Further Reading: 

 

The Last Slave Ship: The True Story of How Clotilda Was Found, Her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning By Ben Raines

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